Twists and Turns
by Amber Evans Potter
Summary: *Complete* Jareth was quite shocked to discover Sarah at the doors to his Labyrinth. What happens when she makes a deal to travel the Labyrinth in exchange for her dreams? You'll be shocked, trust me. J/S Note - rewriting in the works
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth or any of the people in it. I basically own all of this chapter save for the acknowledgements of Jareth, Sarah, and the Labyrinth. If you want to own the rights, go ask your lawyer. He or she might know.  
  
The wind blew loudly against the panes of the dark castle as rain slashed ruthlessly against the glass. Little balls of red light zoomed from place to place in a frenzy of activity. At one point, the lights began to crash into each other in their haste to get messages to their destinations. These were Messenger Pixies and they had never been forced to deliver messages of such magnitude to anyone. Why, the only thing which rivaled theses messages in importance was the one time in which the King of the Goblins had lost his game of 'beat-the-Labyrinth' to a mere mortal!  
  
"Your Majesty!" One of the messengers had managed to find the Queen of this castle. Well, the former Queen anyway now that her power had been passed on.  
  
"What is the matter?" The Queen demanded. She didn't want to speak to any of her servants at the moment. The little ball of light (about the size of a fist) bowed low even if its wings fluttered nervously.  
  
"The princess is gone!" At once the Queen's facial expressions turned to horror as she swept out of the room. As she ran, one thought flew through her mind.  
  
'Where was the Queen of the Pixies?'  
  
A/N: I thought that this was as good a time as any to actually begin this fic. I hope that everyone likes it since this is my first Labyrinth fic (so be nice to me please). As for those of you who are determined to know what pairings there will be since this is a romance fic, I'll have you know it's a J/S fic. You won't understand why I'm laughing right now but by the end of the fic you will. Just wait, read, and review before you hurt yourselves trying to understand me. By the end of several chapters you won't be sure of the pairings. 


	2. Twists and Turns

Chapter: Twists and Turns  
  
"Face it, King Jareth, she isn't going to come back!" Jareth, the King of the Goblins, glared angrily at the noble woman standing before him. She had beautiful blond hair curled perfectly down her back and her baby blue eyes filled with perfect crystalline tears. She wore a tight pink dress with a frighteningly cut neckline which ensured that more than her neck would be shown if she were to bend over. She had her hands balled into fists and she glared at the man before her.  
  
"I don't believe that my affairs are of any concern to you, Lady Gertrude." The man said with icy calm. His hair was styled in perfect white blond and his mismatched eyes were filled with a little more than annoyance. He also wore tight black pants, a black cape, a black poet's shirt which showed off his pale chest, and in one hand he held a riding crop adorned with a large diamond. "If you don't mind, I must be going."  
  
"King Jareth!" The woman named Gertrude began in a whining voice.  
  
"You have over-stayed your welcome." Jareth hissed. He motioned for several goblins to take her away and they did so quickly and effectively. Jareth sighed when her screams of outrage were far away. He plopped down on his throne and threw one leg over an armrest.  
  
"Your Majesty, I don't understand what you see in the human Sarah." A goblin whispered as it came towards its king. The goblin was quite tall (at seven feet) with stretched out, gangly green limbs and rows of sharpened teeth. Its eyes glowed a sickening yellow-green color in the dim light.  
  
"You as well do not agree?" Jareth asked with a mocking laugh. The goblin scowled.  
  
"Master, she was so wrapped up in her own fantasy world, she couldn't even picture us properly! She believed us to be stupid, small, and cuddly." The goblin said the last word as if it were a curse word. Jareth laughed.  
  
"The gnomes must have been delighted when you told them to pretend their roles as goblins during Sarah's trip through the Labyrinth." Another true goblin said as it stepped out of the shadows. Jareth shook his head.  
  
"That is the one thing I have never understood about my darling Sarah." Jareth said as he shook his head. "She made my Labyrinth so . . . babyish. I nearly laughed myself silly when I had to threaten her with the . . . Bog of Eternal Stench." All three of them: the two goblins and their king, began to chuckle.  
  
"But at least she was not like that woman who was so politely escorted to the nearest oubliette." The first goblin named Meimi said.  
  
"She's the seventh one this month." Jareth mumbled as he rubbed his temples. "I'd much rather think of Sarah when she went through my Labyrinth." Meimi grinned darkly and screwed up its voice to sound remotely female.  
  
"But that's not fair!" All three of them laughed, even though Jareth laughed warningly.  
  
"She was certainly a poor example of a creature to go through the Labyrinth. I remember that one man who came here and whose imagination allowed the Labyrinth to be as terrible as it truly is. Perhaps your Sarah wouldn't have thought the Labyrinth so easy if she had gone through it for real." The second goblin mused.  
  
"Snappers, don't tempt me. No one has even passed through the gates of my true labyrinth and you know it! Their minds try to protect themselves, in turn changing the world around them until they can find a challenge which they are capable of overcoming."  
  
"I don't understand why you allow the humans' minds to change the labyrinth at all. Even with the change they can't reach their goal. All but Sarah, of course." Jareth shrugged dismissively.  
  
"What would be the sport in making the game too difficult? I must be . . . 'fair'." The goblins chuckled. "And now, where can our darling Sarah be?" Jareth muttered as a crystal materialized in his hand. As the vision within its clear depths traveled through the labyrinth, Jareth jolted out of his throne when he saw SARAH at the labyrinth gates!  
  
He instantly disappeared from his throne room and materialized just behind Sarah. He took a moment to examine her features carefully before making his presence known. She was about an inch taller with her beautiful hair several shades darker than he remembered. He knew that her eyes were a beautiful hunter green flecked with bits of gold.  
  
She wore a pair of jeans and a black tank top under an open green sweater. Her shoes were quite shocking since they seemed out-of-place. She wore combat boots with painful-looking soles. She looked quite beautiful.  
  
"Well, if it isn't you! And where are you going?" Jareth began as he stepped out of the shadows cast by the barren tear holding his thirteen hour clock. Sarah spun around and gasped loudly when she saw him. Her eyes unconsciously traveled up and down his body hungrily before she blushed and looked away.  
  
Biting her lower lip, she seemed to shirk back.  
  
"I . . . ." Swallowing hard, Sarah's fists clenched and she glared directly into Jareth's mismatched eyes. He was quite shocked by her sudden change in demeanor. "How dare you kidnap me!" She suddenly raged. "I don't want to run your damn Labyrinth again!"  
  
Jareth, who certainly would have remembered kidnapping Sarah, simply blinked at her. She didn't know that he wasn't allowed to kidnap her since it was in the rules of his game. She had won fair and square, which basically banned him from ever being around Sarah, and he had no power over her which made the case even more hopeless. Still, she seemed quite convinced that she would have to run the Labyrinth no matter what she said.  
  
Seeing the golden opportunity granted to him, Jareth smirked broadly as only Jareth can.  
  
"But my dear, I was hoping that you would like the improvements I have made to my Labyrinth. And you do want to see your friends, don't you? Come now, I need something for you to work for. What do you want as your goal?" Jareth expected yelling and screaming, or maybe those terrible words which would sweep her back to her home. Instead, Sarah lifted her chin in thought.  
  
"I want you to give me my dreams." Sarah said. Jareth couldn't help but notice that Sarah held herself differently and that the specks of gold which had been so beautiful in her eyes before were gone. Sarah's eyes were hunter green, her skin was moonlight pale, her hair was the darkest of browns, and she didn't look at him the way that she used to.  
  
Before she had looked at him defiantly, angrily, and with cold indifference. This Sarah looked at him with measured anger and patience, but also a strange hunger which was covered by her aloof manner.  
  
Jareth couldn't help but like the new Sarah more than the old one.  
  
"You have thirteen hours to reach your dreams. If you don't make it, then the Labyrinth will have you for its own pleasure." Jareth said. "Such a pity." He disappeared in a shower of glitter and dust.  
  
Sarah took a deep, slightly relieved breath. Looking over the dark and frightening Labyrinth, she felt fear again take over her senses. Quieting her panic, Sarah made her way to the gates of the Labyrinth. 


	3. When Thy Heart Churns

Chapter: When Thy Heart Churns  
  
Sarah couldn't believe what she was doing. She had sworn never to go to the Labyrinth, never to even wonder what it would be like for Jareth to look at her with any kind of recognition or emotion. But his hungry eyes on her had sent such delicious shivers down her sensitive spine. Why was she risking everything just to do this? Jareth had been serious about his threat of leaving her to the Labyrinth, even if he didn't know that she knew.  
  
Sarah sighed deeply as she pushed her hair back and supported herself against the wall, feeling old. Rubbing her neck for a minute, she bit her bottom lip and glanced the way she had come. She had been walking for about two hours in a straight line and she glanced up at the dark sky wearily, knowing that she needed some kind of help to continue. She couldn't believe how lonely she felt at that moment. She had been alone her entire life, but this was much worse.  
  
"'allo there." Sarah looked to her right and saw a rather cute little blue worm looking back at her.  
  
"Good day to you, Sir Worm." Sarah said politely. "Or is it good night? Either way, hello." The worm chuckled at her obvious attempt at humor.  
  
"Well, I believe its afternoon." He said. "Would you like to come inside for a cup of tea?" Sarah smiled politely but shook her head.  
  
"Thank you but I've already eaten before I got here. Is the turn which leads into the other part of the Labyrinth that way?" Sarah pointed to the wall across from her.  
  
"I do believe it is." The worm said. Sarah got up and made her way to the wall resolutely. "Are you sure you won't come inside and meet the misses?" The worm asked hopefully.  
  
"I'm dreadfully sorry, but I have a time-limit. If I ever return and I don't have to travel through the Labyrinth than I'll be sure to have tea with you." Sarah said as she made her way into the wall. The worm shook its head as she left.  
  
"She's a polite little thing." He commented. "I remember her from before. She seems different somehow. I can't quite place it, but perhaps she's finally matured." The worm wouldn't be bothered with more serious thoughts so he entered his home for some very welcomed tea.  
  
  
  
"My beautiful Sarah, how much you've changed." Jareth said softly as he starred into a crystal. Snappers and Meimi watched his facial expressions change with the conversation with the worm and then follow as she walked through his Labyrinth. She seemed to know exactly where she was going.  
  
"Your Excellency, perhaps she truly has grown." Snappers commented. "How else would you explain the Labyrinth's reaction to her being here? It thrives and grows under her presence." Jareth couldn't help but agree with this.  
  
His Labyrinth usually fought against those who came into it. The walls weren't aloud to sparkle so they covered themselves in glitter. The plant life couldn't blossom so false creepers were made to ensnare the trunks of very plain trees. Even the monsters hated to be in the Labyrinth whenever a person was running it. But for some, strange reason the Labyrinth was flourishing. The walls glowed merrily, the creepers and ivy made joyful patterns up equally delighted and detailed trees of gold. The monsters actually seemed happy for once.  
  
"Snappers, which Sarah do you like best? The one who was here two years ago at the age of sixteen or the woman of eighteen running my Labyrinth as we speak?" Snappers thought out this question for a long time before answering.  
  
"This Sarah. No offense to you, Your Majesty, but I couldn't stand the Sarah who first came here. She whined too much and her imagination wasn't entirely mature. This Sarah has a spark for imagination and a new sense of power." Jareth listened to every word carefully.  
  
"I believe that you're right." Jareth said quietly.  
  
  
  
Sarah had been walking for another hour when she came across a strange sight. A little dwarf was arguing with an old man. On his head was a strange bird-like creature. From what Sarah could gather, the bird or the man had stolen something from the dwarf.  
  
"Them's me rightful property! It's not fair!" The dwarf cried angrily. As he spoke, Sarah came up behind him.  
  
"Nothing is fair." The dwarf whirled around and his eyes grew wide under bushy eyebrows. "In this place, I would think the inhabitants would have learnt that." The dwarf ran forward and hugged Sarah around the waist.  
  
"Sarah! I missed you!" He said cheerfully as he stepped back. At first Sarah didn't seem to recognize him. Then she smiled shyly and hugged him again.  
  
"It's wonderful to see you again, Hoggle." Sarah said. Hoggle beamed up at her and turned to glare as the old man and his bird-like hat tried to sneak away. "And as for you," Sarah's cold voice rang out cruel and fierce, "I suggest that you return what you have stolen."  
  
"We haven't stolen nothing'." The bird squawked in a quick Spanish accent. Sarah glared at it before it glanced down at the old man.  
  
"Young woman! I see that you've found your way back here." He said, drawing out the words so that they took nearly a minute to say.  
  
"Don't play games with me. I'm in a bit of a hurry and my friend would like his property back. Now." She said when the old man was showing signs of replying with the speed of a mongoose. "Before I hurt you." Sarah added as an after thought.  
  
"Sheesh! No need to get violent!" The bird said as it lifted its leg. There, half buried in a little begging box, were several jewels attached to each other. Hoggle snatched away his jewels and grunted angrily at the pair.  
  
"Thank you." Sarah said before moving to leave. Hoggle followed after her and smiled.  
  
"It's really nice to see you again, Sarah." He said as he took her hand. Sarah blushed and smiled, feeling much more comfortable now that she had someone to talk to.  
  
Just as she thought that nothing could go wrong for a while, a loud crack could be heard. Sarah whirled around and nearly screamed when seven red creatures leapt down! They began to dance and sing frighteningly, at odd times lighting themselves on fire or removing body parts!  
  
We can show you a good time! (show you a good time)  
  
And it's all worth something. (something, we're tall)  
  
With fire and sand to worry about! (and Hell to worry about)  
  
Cause we're gonna send you to flames and death!  
  
Now come and join our good time! (join our good time)  
  
Drown in our fire! (drown in the flames)  
  
Learn to take heat, so go on and sleep, we'll burn you, burn you, burn you till you just can't keep your-,  
  
(can't keep your)  
  
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!  
  
CAN'T KEEP YOUR SOUL! SOUL! SOUL!!!  
  
By this time the red creatures exploded into flames and ran towards Sarah! She grabbed Hoggle's hand and ran as hard as she could through the maze of twists and turns, not even caring where she was going so long as it was away from the Fireys!  
  
When she finally stopped, she leaned over her knees and panted hard. Hoggle was breathing hard and holding his side painfully.  
  
"I don't ever want to do THAT again!" Hoggle said.  
  
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! ^.^ I makes me happy to know that people like it so far. Well, you don't know the mystery yet so keep on reading! I'll update as soon as I can (which might be sooner if I get a lot of reviews *looks hopeful*). 


	4. Fight Tooth and Nail

Chapter: Fight Tooth and Nail  
  
After the act from the Fireys, Sarah and Hoggle weren't in the best of moods. Sarah kept glancing behind her to make sure that nothing could sneak up on them. Hoggle produced some interesting conversation on the changes to the Labyrinth and the 'unfortunate' demise of the Bog of Eternal Stench. Sarah couldn't help but giggle at the name.  
  
"If you think about it, the Bog of Eternal Stench doesn't sound all that frightening. Besides smelling bad for the rest of your life, I guess nothing seriously bad happens." Hoggle had to run slightly in order to keep up with Sarah, even though she made an effort to walk slowly.  
  
"Well, I thought it was frightening. Think about it: no one comes close enough to talk to you, you can barely breath, and who would want to marry you?" Sarah's smile very slowly began to disappear from her already pale features. "Even though its gone, I'm glad it is. I don't think I could ever stay around anyone who was in the Bog of Eternal Stench."  
  
If Hoggle had even bothered to look at Sarah, he would have seen that her features had turned slightly gray and a twinge of pink was forming on her cheeks. She obviously hadn't stepped into the Bog of Stench, so why would Hoggle bother to see how his statements would affect her? After all, she probably thought the same thing.  
  
"Halt! Who goes there?" Sarah jumped but made no sound. Instead, she lifted her hand up in a threatening pose. She blinked and took a deep breath before pulling her hand and her feelings back into herself.  
  
Glancing up, she was a little surprised to discover a little dog-like knight waving around some kind of stick like a lunatic. Beside him, much calmer, was a giant red creature. Sarah smiled shyly and curtsied.  
  
"Greetings, Sir Didymus, hello Ludo." Sarah said. Much to her surprise, Ludo came forward like a giant child. And just like a child, Ludo wrapped the fragile Sarah into a bone-crushing hug filled with red fur and a lot of odors.  
  
"Sarah back!" The great beast said happily.  
  
"Fair maiden! You have return to us at last!" Sir Didymus said with a grand bow. "What has brought thou back to us?" Sarah glanced at Hoggle and then smiled warmly at the two creatures.  
  
"I'm playing for my dreams. I want them." Hoggle and Sir Didymus glanced at each other thoughtfully before looking back at Sarah.  
  
"We'll go wherever you want us to go, Sarah. That's what friends do." Sarah's eyes prickled with tears as she looked at each of them in turn.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered, her throat clogging with various emotions. "I've been lonely."  
  
"You shouldn't be, Sarah." Hoggle said firmly. "You're the nicest person in the Underground! Don't worry; we'll go with you! You beat the Labyrinth before and you can beat it again!" Sarah kneeled down and hugged him tightly.  
  
"Thank you all so much." She whispered. Standing back up and receiving reassuring nods from each of them, Sarah pointed in the direction of the castle. "Now let's get my dreams!"  
  
  
  
Jareth twirled his crystals around, his eyes never leaving Sarah's face as she spoke. He had to smile at her bravery. True, the last time she had been in the Labyrinth she had been brave, but back then she had displayed a sullen bravery which came with doing something that a person doesn't want to do but must. This Sarah seemed to just accept that hardships would befall her and took things as they came. The Fireys probably still would have frightened the old Sarah, but the new Sarah had already forgotten them. Well, more like moved on.  
  
"Your Majesty, they have already entered the Forest of Screams." Snappers said. He and Meimi ignored the envious glares of the other goblins. Meimi and Snappers were the elite of their race and the King's favorites. Without them he would have been very lonely and surrounded by greedy creatures.  
  
"Excellent. Let's see how she handles this little snag." Jareth tossed his crystal down from the window he sat on and watched at the crystal landed somewhere in the forest. He smirked dangerously, showing all of his sharp teeth.  
  
"Your Excellency, are you sure that something so violent as those creatures should be motioned towards your Sarah? Even she would have trouble with them." Another of the goblins commented. His name was Deathtrap. Jareth quirked an eyebrow but continued grinning devilishly.  
  
"This is my revenge against Sarah." He said simply. "If she is worthy of reaching this castle than she must pass through the obstacles standing in her way. Perhaps this little 'piece of the cake' shall prove too much for our darling heroine." Jareth's smile became more and more enraged as he spoke. Finally he glared at the goblins around him. "Leave me! I wish to be alone!"  
  
Even Snappers and Meimi left the room, their presences only remembered by the cold in the air. Jareth turned back to his new crystal and glared at Sarah angrily.  
  
"Come on, Sarah. Let's see how you like my friends."  
  
  
  
Sarah screamed as a pair of arms grabbed her around her waist! Her eyes grew wide and filled with hysteria as a man pulled her into the forest, his cold laughter filling the air. From his torso up he was a well- built man with bloodstained black hair, which swept his back and emotionless black eyes. From his torso down he had the body of a black stallion. Sarah screamed long and loud as the centaur made no move to deny what he wanted from Sarah.  
  
His hands roamed to places that they shouldn't have and with one callused hand he pinned her arms above her head, smashing her fragile form against a tree. With his other hand he reached for his jeans, his eyes fixed on her prize.  
  
If he had been watching her face he might have seen the anger that welled up in their green depths. Screaming a war cry, Sarah smashed her feet into the centaur's occupied chin and withered until he released her. Rubbing her wrists as she ran, her first thoughts were of her friends.  
  
"Hello Sarah." Sarah screamed and spun around only to have Jareth pull her into his arms. "Don't be frightened, it's only me." He said with a hint of laughter in his voice. Sarah couldn't help but relax in his hold. "Now there. You see?" Sarah's breathing became calmer and calmer.  
  
"You're trying to distract me, aren't you." Sarah whispered against Jareth's strong chest. He glanced down at her but she wouldn't look up. "I'm going to get my dreams." She promised soulfully.  
  
"Why the games, Sarah?" He whispered as his hands traveled down to her waist. "Why must you play with me?" He lifted her chin to look directly into her eyes. Tearstains fell down her cheeks and her face was red and puffy.  
  
"I'm going to get my dreams." Sarah said sternly. Jareth felt a swell of passion at finally seeing her iron spirit fighting against him. Capturing her lips in a hard kiss, Sarah gasped and then began to whimper.  
  
Smoothing her hair back, Jareth felt as if he was in the arms of an angel. He felt so light, so wonderful as his tongue traced delicate patterns on her lips, making no move to actually enter her mouth. Actually, he didn't feel as if Sarah was an angel. More like something else. Something more . . . magical.  
  
"I'm going to get my dreams." Sarah whispered as she drew away from him quickly. Jareth stood back, stunned, as Sarah's eyes once again filled with tears. This time, however, her expression was furious. Rubbing her eyes quickly, Sarah whirled around and went deeper into the forest, ignoring Jareth's enraged glare at her back.  
  
This was proving to be a bad day for everyone.  
  
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! ^.^ You guys are wonderful! I got six in one day. Well, you don't know the mystery yet so keep on reading! I'll update as soon as I can (which might be sooner if I get a lot of reviews *looks hopeful*). So stay tuned! 


	5. The Soul Must Sail

Chapter: The Soul Must Sail  
  
Sighing deeply, Sarah glanced at Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo. She had been lucky to find them just where she had left them, and above all unharmed. Fiddling with her fingers as she walked beside them, Sarah wondered what Jareth would have said if she had-,  
  
'Get a grip on yourself! You know exactly what he would say if you told him that! You have to get your dreams first and then you can tell him.' A sharp voice in her mind scowled. Sarah sighed and looked ahead.  
  
"So Sarah, what's your favorite magical creature?" Hoggle asked curiously. "I mean, when you arrived at the gates of the Labyrinth the first time, I got the impression that you liked fairies." Sarah turned to him and thought about her answer.  
  
"I like pixies." She said with a secretive smile. "They and the goblins are the oldest of the Fae folk." She said. As she began to speak, her body relaxed of its earlier tension. "They've been around for years and years, longer than humans. And they aren't nearly as annoying as fairies." Hoggle laughed.  
  
"Fair maiden, you speak as if you've seen them! Have you? You never told us that you did. Of course we were fighting a battle most of the time so it would be perfectly understandable if you couldn't tell us everything about yourself." Sir Didymus said.  
  
"I never saw one." Sarah replied quickly. "I'm just saying what I've heard." At that moment, Ludo's stomach growled loud enough to make everyone jump!  
  
"Ludo hungry." He moaned as he put his large hands to his stomach. Sarah tried to deny any kind of thoughts for food. She had already spent six hours in the Labyrinth and her last meal seemed like ages ago.  
  
"If we see something to eat along the way, we'll stop for a minute." Sarah said with a warm smile. Ludo nodded but his gentle face was twisted with obvious hunger. Hoggle seemed a bit edgy, even though he kept his mouth shut.  
  
Sensing something strange behind her, Sarah whirled around and threw her arms out as if she was about to grab the next bar on the monkey bars. She blinked and, once again, took her arms back against her body in order to stare at the creatures which were coming towards them.  
  
Giant masses of flesh moved sluggishly towards them. From where Sarah stood, they towered about two feet taller than Sarah and glowed neon green. They had two eyes which slithered down to look at them curiously in much the same way a snail's eyes would. The first of the two smiled to reveal three sets of sharp teeth.  
  
"Excuse me dearie but do you happen to know if there are any humans about?" Sarah blinked at the motherly voice which came from the second creature. The first one (the smiling one) nodded its head towards the third and smaller one.  
  
"Why are you looking for humans?" Sarah asked slowly. The creatures laughed and starred at her with golden, dancing eyes.  
  
"Human flesh . . . is the best tasting in all of the Underground!" The smallest one said. Sarah leapt away as the creatures (with surprising speed) rushed towards them and grabbed her friends! Sarah wanted to stay and fight but Sir Didymus and Hoggle were yelling for her to get onto a tree.  
  
"We'll hold them off Sarah! Just don't let them get to you!" Hoggle yelled.  
  
"Fear not fair maiden! We shall save thy!" Sir Didymus said as he snarled and bit into the slug which had been smiling at Sarah. With a mighty battle cry, the motherly slug lifted Hoggle and prepared to eat him.  
  
"No!" Sarah screamed as she began to climb up a large tree, her eyes locked on Hoggle. "He's a dwarf!" She cried as the slug licked her lips.  
  
"Ah, a dwarf! Bad for the stomach but so . . . tasty. Come here junior! The dwarf will be good for you. Leave that dog! It will scrap your throat like the gnome you ate earlier!"  
  
Trying to get back down quickly, Hoggle once again yelled for her to get back into the tree. Swallowing her pride and her fear, Sarah returned to the tree and made her way to the very top. Once there, a hand touched her shoulder and she screamed.  
  
"Calm down, Sarah. I've already established that I won't hurt you." Jareth's cool and amused voice was right beside her ear. She turned to him only to have his lips pressed against hers, his gloved hand caressing her pale and tearstained cheeks.  
  
Sarah would have given almost anything to simply relax in his hold and allow him to do with her what he willed. Unfortunately, a cry from below shocked her out of her thoughts and Sarah cried down to them in desperation. Her cry was muffled by Jareth's eager mouth.  
  
"My friends!" Sarah cried as she pulled away. "Please help them! Please!" Jareth rather liked having Sarah beg for something since she had only done it once before. The first time he had met Sarah she had begged him to return her baby step brother to her.  
  
He had refused her before but now that he knew she would thank him for it, Jareth smirked.  
  
"Under one condition, Sarah." Jareth whispered.  
  
"What?" Sarah asked suspiciously. At once Jareth felt another wave of passion take hold of him as he watched Sarah's green eyes fill with caution and . . . love. Jareth was starting to believe that the day wasn't as terrible as he had originally thought it would be.  
  
"You must eat something." He produced a crystal which instantly transformed into a golden peach. Sarah looked at it with an arched eyebrow before looking back at Jareth in disbelief.  
  
"Is that all? Please help them then!" Sarah took the peach from Jareth's out-stretched fingers. Jareth, thinking that she was lying, watched her carefully.  
  
"Eat it first." He said. Sarah blinked and then grinned warmly.  
  
"Actually, this is a sort of favor. I was hungry." Without another thought, Sarah bit into the peach and actually managed to take two more bites before she suddenly stopped. "What did you . . . what is this?" She dropped the peach and began to fall forward.  
  
"My dear Sarah, you fell for it. You couldn't even remember my peach when you remembered everything else." Jareth whispered as he pulled Sarah out of danger's way and cradled her limp form in his arms. Brushing away a strand of her dark hair, he produced another crystal which floated in front of her.  
  
He had tricked her. He had used an old trick against the invincible Sarah; the Sarah who knew all of his tricks and deceptions. And yet, she had bitten the peach without a second glance.  
  
"You're mine now, my dear." Jareth whispered as his lips grazed her motionless lips.  
  
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! ^.^ You guys put me to shame! So many reviews! Well, you don't know the mystery yet (three more chapters actually) so keep on reading! I'll update as soon as I can (which might be sooner if I get a lot more of those wonderful reviews *looks hopeful*). 


	6. In Battles of Grief

Chapter: In Battles of Grief  
  
The first thing that Sarah recognized when she opened her eyes (seemingly for the first time) was vibrant laughter and shimmering ghosts with strange masks. Looking down upon herself, Sarah discovered a beautiful silver dress sewn from the softest material and with the softest designs. Touching her forehead, Sarah discovered a crystal tiara dangling over her third eye, sparkling in the soft moonlight of the room. All around people were swaying to a soft beat, their laughter ringing out merrier but more sinister than anything.  
  
'Where am I?' Sarah wondered as she began to push herself politely past those people who were around her. Most of them jeered at her, trying to frighten her. Sarah ignored them as she looked around curiously. 'Who am I?'  
  
Turning to a mirror, Sarah frowned slightly at her reflection. She felt so . . . different in what she was wearing. She felt heavy and weak, drowsy and also confused. Who was she? Where was she? Where was everyone? Why was that man . . . ?  
  
Sarah's eyes returned to the place the man had been. She blinked; surprised that he wasn't there anymore. He had been handsome, wearing a black coat and a royal blue vest. His icy blond hair had been tainted black and his eyes were so alluring. One was a liquid blue, icy and defiant. The other eye was a warm brown, beckoning for her.  
  
Twirling around and around in confusion, Sarah tried to find the man again. She had to find him! She had to tell him something she herself couldn't quite remember. She had been searching for something, but what was it? Where was she? Why couldn't she hold onto a coherent thought for more than a few seconds?  
  
Just as she was about to cry out in frustration, a cool hand touched her shoulder and took her by the waist. Sarah turned to find that same man starring intently down at her as he led her into the dance. She knew the steps, knew how to make her body graceful and fluid. Her knowledge seemed to please the man because he smiled a very hungry, predatory smile that showed off his very sharp teeth.  
  
"Sarah." The man whispered. Sarah stiffened in his arms. Her name was Sarah? How did this man know her? "Don't play anymore games, my Sarah. Let yourself belong to me. Let me love you." Sarah tilted her head slightly but continued to sway to the music.  
  
"I . . . wanted something." Sarah said, obviously trying to push through her confusion and THINK something. "I was looking for someone." The man obviously didn't like the direction in which this conversation was going.  
  
"Sarah, please. Please let me love you." The man whispered as he trailed fiery kisses down her milky neck. Sarah drew in a breath sharply, her eyes closing in the pleasure of the kisses. Her mind snapped at her, warning signs going off in her mind for her to stop! But she just couldn't.  
  
"I . . . ." Sarah moaned pleasurably and turned her face towards the man. He began to trail kisses along her temple, moving closer and closer to his demanding lips. "Who am I?" She whispered. His kisses never stopped as he drew her to him.  
  
"You are my precious one." He whispered just as his lips touched her own. The kiss was filled with passion and hunger, both of them drawing on a fire which burned and thrived with their contact. Sarah wanted to let go, to stop holding her breath and holding everything that she was. At that very moment, her eyes flew open and she slammed away from the man!  
  
"I have to go." Sarah whispered as she backed away from him fearfully. "I can't stay. I have to get my dreams." The man starred at her as she began to edge away. "I'm sorry, Goblin King." The man blinked, slightly surprised that she had finally used his name, or at least his title.  
  
"Sarah, come back!" He said, pushing past the dancers. They were trying to restrain Sarah but she moved past them with surprising strength. "Sarah! My name is Jareth!" He called out. Sarah turned to him with shock in her blue eyes. Jareth was momentarily shocked but after he blinked her eyes were their usual green. Had the light fooled him?  
  
"Do you love the old Sarah?" She called out, dancing out of his reach but never taking her eyes off of his face. Jareth tried desperately to get closer to her but she wouldn't allow it. "Do you love the old Sarah or the new Sarah?" She demanded again, her face becoming desperate and angry.  
  
"I love the old Sarah." Jareth said. "But I love the new Sarah more. I love you." He said. Sarah stopped dancing and starred at him.  
  
"You love me?" She whispered carefully. Jareth grinned as he came towards her and took her stunned form into the circle of his arms.  
  
"I really, truly do." He whispered as his lips brushed against her own. Ever since that first kiss he had become addicted to the soft feel of her skin.  
  
"If I were to change back into the old Sarah, would you miss me?" She pressed anxiously. Jareth sighed and smiled down at her.  
  
"I don't think I could go back to loving the old Sarah." He whispered. Sarah sighed in relief as Jareth once more kissed her, his hands bruising her hips where his fingers were digging into her flesh.  
  
"Thank you, Jareth." She said the name as if it were a heavenly password to the most wonderful place imaginable. Shaking her sad face, Sarah rushed towards the wall (the confines of the crystal in which she was trapped) and lifted her hand. To Jareth's shock, she did nothing more than touch the wall, which shattered instantly.  
  
Sarah fell through the air amidst the remains of the ball room, her cloths changing back into her old attire and her feet gently landing on soft, springy moss.  
  
"I'm sorry, Jareth." She whispered as she looked longingly as she starred towards the castle. A waste land surrounded her, and her friends hurried over.  
  
  
  
"Why Sarah?!" Jareth demanded angrily as he paced his throne room. He was alone once more, his eyes constantly returning to the crystal in his hands. "Why do you play with me? What secret could you hold that would enable you to break through my crystal with only your hands? Have you acquired some kind of magic? Tell me!" And so we leave our Goblin King, furious and impatient for the arrival of Sarah and her friends.  
  
A/N: Thank you to Jenny, Azure, terrie, Zabella, draegon_fire, Xithemonas, phobemoon, Lady Sorrow, whiteowl, SilverSpace, dawn, JLF, and Redaura for reviewing the story so far! ^.^ You guys put me to shame! So many reviews! Well, you don't know the mystery yet (just two more chapters actually) so keep on reading! I'll update as soon as I can (which might be sooner if I get a lot more of those wonderful reviews of yours *looks hopeful yet again*). 


	7. The Hands Just Weep

Chapter: The Hands Just Weep  
  
A strange silence could be heard in the beautiful house. A single light flickered on and a tiny, sleepy voice could be heard throughout the motionless house. "Sarah?"  
  
Six-year-old Toby Williams wandered the warm hallways of his home. Sunshine blond hair and enormous blue eyes gave the little boy the illusion of being an angel. Well, not really an illusion. Toby was a very sweet child, except when he wanted his Sarah. His big sister.  
  
"Sarah?" Toby called a little louder. The little boy didn't really remember the Labyrinth, at least not consciously. He could sometimes be found humming strange songs or even mentioning things he thought would probably be found in a castle. He was fascinated by any tales that involved goblins and castles.  
  
Toby had been four years old when his sister had unwittingly wished him away. Back then, Toby had always been some-what of a disappointment to his mother Karen and his father John. They couldn't seem to stomach the idea that their precious bundle of joy couldn't speak at the age of four and that he was so small. He had nearly died when he was born prematurely, which seemed to make his mother very angry with him since she was a controlling person by nature. She couldn't control the situation so she made someone else take care of it. That person was Sarah.  
  
He had grown up to love only one person and that person was the fairy- like Sarah. She always told him wonderful stories about a book that she had read 'in her youth' as she said. She would speak about twists and turns, hidden pits called oubliettes, and a very sadistic Goblin King. Sarah always grew very angry whenever she spoke about the Goblin King and tended to characterize him constantly as the villain. She was very cruel in her descriptions of him.  
  
"Sarah?" Toby was becoming very sad. If his mother had been there, she probably would have made a horrified face and gone running for her stepdaughter. Whenever Toby showed signs of unease, Sarah was the girl who was needed. She could make her brother do just about anything, including cue him for instant crying. She would just give him a look and he would either start or stop crying.  
  
When they were alone in Sarah's wonderful room, Sarah would laugh and praise their wonderful game. Toby loved this game.  
  
"Sarah?" Toby whispered as he peeked into her room. He gasped at what he saw!  
  
  
  
Moving around carefully, Sarah allowed her eyes to travel the land around her as she and her friends made their way towards the goblin city. As she walked, she began to sing quietly to herself.  
  
"Twists and turns,  
  
When thy heart churns.  
  
Fight tooth and nail,  
  
The soul must sail.  
  
In battles of grief,  
  
The hands just weep.  
  
Into the depths of the world,  
  
To meet with the reason why hurled,  
  
Into this torrent of nightmares,  
  
Where life is so unfair.  
  
Bring tears of light,  
  
Move him to flight.  
  
The journey too steep,  
  
The body must weep.  
  
As daylight breaks,  
  
Comes the baking of cakes.  
  
On vibrant pixie wings,  
  
The furious night bird sings.  
  
Through dangers untold,  
  
And hardships unnumbered.  
  
Wherever you may be,  
  
My heart will always belong to thy.  
  
Love me forever and never,  
  
Eternity!  
  
Sarah pushed through the gates of the goblin city and starred up at the dark castle looming up before her. Taking a deep, rattling breath, Sarah pushed open the large wooden doors. She and her friends took the stairs at a run, each one trying to pass the other and not quite succeeding. Hoggle reached the top first and he glanced down at Sarah nervously.  
  
"Are you really sure that you wanna do this, Sarah? I mean, you don't have to. You never really cared about this before." Hoggle said slowly, drawing out the words. Even though there were only a few minutes remaining of her time, Sarah took a moment to consider.  
  
She didn't have very much to go back to from her old life. Her parents hated her and the only speck of warmth was the memory of a child. A beautiful child. Smiling faintly, Sarah remembered every detail of that perfect child and sighed deeply. She was doing this for that child; she was capturing her dreams so that she could let go of her secret and let everyone know the truth.  
  
Jareth (just the name sent her mind reeling) would never accept her until she had her dreams. She had to have them. If she didn't, her sacrifices would have been for nothing.  
  
"I must go on." Sarah whispered. She looked away, feeling suddenly guilty. "You don't have to come. You shouldn't. This is my battle and you'd just get hurt because of me." Hoggle straightened as Ludo gave her a strangely mature stare.  
  
"Ludo and Sarah friends!" The great red creature declared. It seemed to be trying to teach her something that he thought was simple to understand.  
  
"Sarah, we'll go with you anywhere!" Hoggle said. "We're friends! You're more my friend now than you ever were before! You ate Jareth's peach to save us!" Sarah blushed at the memory but Sir Didymus continued on the same thought.  
  
"Fair maiden, when those creatures were scared away by His Highness's crystal, we knew that something was afoot! When he told us of your eating his fruit, we knew that you were in danger again! But you are strong, my lady, we knew that you would get away!" Sarah's eyes filled with tears but she pushed them back and smiled warmly.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered. "I will never forget this for as long as I live." With that resolve tucked away in her mind, Sarah threw open the doors barring her from reaching her dreams.  
  
  
  
"Welcome Sarah. You have arrived at the end of my Labyrinth." Jareth's cool voice echoed through the cold air. Sarah starred directly into his eyes, matching his ferocity with her own. "Here are your dreams, my dear." He lifted a crystal.  
  
Coming towards her, he held it out. Feeling like a magnet, Sarah pulled Jareth into a hard kiss before slowly pulling away. Jareth smirked before handing over Sarah's dreams and watching her reaction. Sarah handled the crystal delicately and starred into its depths.  
  
Her eyes widened as she began to see visions. She was dancing with Jareth, he was kissing her, they were married, she had children, she ruled a prosperous kingdom, and she was more than happy. She was blissful.  
  
"Thank you Jareth." She whispered. She opened her mouth to say more but another voice interrupted her.  
  
"Watch out Sarah!" Sarah screamed as Hoggle shoved her out of the way and cried out in pain! An arrow stuck out of Hoggle's withering form and Jareth's eyes were blazing as he whirled towards the culprit.  
  
"YOU!" The centaur, which had been sent after Sarah, stood with his bow in hand and a fresh arrow in place of the old. Jareth threw a crystal at the creature and it screamed in pain as it disappeared.  
  
"Hoggle! No! Please don't die!" Sarah whispered fiercely as she kneeled over him, her body rocking back and forth in comforting motions. Hoggle's eyes, however, were beginning to glaze over and his body began to convulse.  
  
"I'm s-s-s-sorry, S-S-S-Sarah." He whispered. Sarah shook her head in disbelief and grabbed the arrow.  
  
"No!" She screamed furiously. "No! No! No! I won't have it! I won't let you die!" She tore the arrow out and placed her hands over Hoggle's bloody wound. And oh how much blood seeped between her fingers and what smells drifted to rise up to her sensitive nose! Still, she closed her eyes and began to mutter ancient runes beneath her breath.  
  
Jareth listened and as he did, his face contorted in anger.  
  
After several moments, Sarah's hands glowed with a golden light and the blood vanished. Her energy spent and her body sore, Sarah rested on her heels and took several deep breaths. Sitting up slowly, Hoggle blinked and starred at his hands in wonder. He was healed.  
  
"Those are pixie runes. You're not Sarah!" Jareth whispered furiously. Sarah turned towards him like a doe caught in the headlights; knowing the danger she was in but by that same instinct too frightened to move. She lifted her hands slowly and stood up.  
  
"Jareth, let me explain-,"  
  
"YOU'RE NOT SARAH!!" He screamed as he threw a crystal at her! She covered her face and yelped when she hit the ground hard, magic shattering over her, enveloping her trembling form. Blinking and sitting up, Sarah who wasn't really Sarah gasped when she saw her hands.  
  
The girl who had pretended to be Sarah was a beautiful girl with a petite form and pale skin. Her long, waist-length lavender hair was tucked behind elf-shaped ears. Her startling blue eyes were drawn slightly upward and her lips were redder than the real Sarah's.  
  
Needless to say, Jareth was beside himself with fury.  
  
"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!! NEVER RETURN HERE!!" He screamed and turned around so that his back was towards her. Two goblins (Meimi and Snappers) watched the scene unfold before them as they stood hidden in the shadows.  
  
"Jareth, please! You don't understand!" The girl began, her eyes filling with tears.  
  
"Call me by my proper title, wench." Jareth whispered. Hurt and terrified, the girl took a step away from him. His back straightened proudly, like a tower of silence, ice, and rage. He was immovable, impassable, and above all, he was pissed off.  
  
"I'm . . . sorry to hear you say that." She whispered. Glancing at the crystal still clutched in one hand, she turned to Jareth once more. "Your Majesty, may I keep my dreams?" She whispered.  
  
"The dreams belong to you." Snappers said. The girl turned to look at him. "You won them fair and square whether you are Sarah or not."  
  
"I . . . see." The girl whispered. She turned to Hoggle and the others very slowly.  
  
"If you aren't Sarah, than who are you?" Hoggle asked. The girl blushed and looked at the crystal in her hands, moving it from hand to hand nervously.  
  
"My name is Michu." She confided. Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo starred at her for a long time before they all broke into wide smiles.  
  
"Then you're our new friend, Michu." Hoggle said firmly. Michu smiled and turned to Jareth but he still had his back towards her.  
  
"You're still here? I thought I told you to leave." Jareth said with obvious anger even though his voice never lifted a note higher than perfectly calm.  
  
"Good bye than." Michu whispered, tears still falling down her cheeks even though she kept her head high. "Good bye, Goblin King." She whispered as she vanished in a shower of golden light.  
  
"Your Majesty?" Meimi started to speak tenderly.  
  
"If anyone mentions that . . . wench's name in my kingdom, I shall personally see to it that they never speak another name ever again." Jareth whispered as he stormed into the depths of his castle where even his favorite goblins didn't dare to enter.  
  
A/N: The song is mine (and I changed the Firey song on purpose). Thank you to Flaming Fae, DarkAngel-Hotaru, terrie, Niffers, Megan, and fairykissesprincess! *I hope I still shocked you* for reviewing the story so far! ^.^ You guys put me to shame! So many reviews!  
  
I lied. ^.^ Now you guys know the big secret! Don't hate me too badly, I really fooled you though. This story is far from over so stick around and see what happens next! I'll update as soon as I can (which might be sooner if I get a lot more of those wonderful reviews of yours *looks hopeful yet again*). 


	8. Into the Depths of the World

Chapter: Into the Depths of the World  
  
"Did our new roommate show up yet?" A throaty voice from another room asked curiously. The owner of the voice left the room, tying her long blond hair into a ponytail. Stormy gray eyes blinking, she stepped into a dimly lit living room where another girl sat curled up on a couch reading a book.  
  
"If she was here, don't you think you would be speaking to her right now?" An amused voice said from behind the book as delicate pale fingers turned the page. The blond girl scowled deeply and put her hands on her hips.  
  
"Michu Phixie! Stop making fun of me!" A shock of lavender hair swayed as Michu chuckled. "That isn't fair." The blond girl added.  
  
"The world isn't fair." Michu said ominously as she put her book down. Her blue eyes pierced through the blond girl's attempt at seriousness and forced the girl to shrink back unconsciously.  
  
"Well, tell me when she gets here. She'll be here sometime after six o'clock." Michu starred directly into the girl's gray eyes.  
  
"You are going to dump her on me while you go to a party, aren't you Selena?" The blond girl named Selena bowed her head, feeling like a child with her fingers caught in the cookie jar. "That's what I thought." Michu said with a dramatic sigh. Picking up her book and returning to her place, Michu made no signs of farther conversation.  
  
"Pardon me, Your Majesty!" Selena muttered. The book was slammed shut and thrown to the floor before Selena was once again rewarded with a terrible scowl.  
  
"If you call me that one more time, I'll personally kick you out of here." Selena, knowing that Michu meant everything that she said, gulped and left at a run to get to her art class. Michu shook her head angrily before picking up her book carefully. Sighing, she reached into thin air and a crystal materialized before her. "I wonder how you are, Goblin King."  
  
  
  
"I'm going to be late!" Sarah cried as she rushed about her room grabbing cloths and books as she fluttered around chaotically. A seven-year-old Toby watched in confusion and also admiration as his nineteen-year-old sister Sarah balanced books upon books in her arms and hurried around her room.  
  
"Where are you going, Sarah?" Toby asked when his sister passed by him.  
  
"I told you that I'm going to college." Sarah said warmly, sparing a moment of her hectic walks to favor him with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll come and visit you all the time. Don't give Karen or dad a hard time, okay?" Toby nodded.  
  
"Karen is happy." Toby commented. Unfortunately for Karen, Toby had picked up the habit of calling his mother by her first name. Karen had tried all in her power to dissuade such things but Toby was a very stubborn child, especially when he was trying to act like his big sister Sarah (and Sarah had no desire to call Karen 'mom'). Sarah snorted at Toby's question.  
  
"She won't be happy when she has to do all of the chores herself. Don't let her badger you into doing any of it either." Toby nodded, completely understanding every word his sister said. Even though Toby pretended otherwise, he was actually very intelligent. He never showed his intelligence at school (which was a reason that he was picked on by students and teachers alike). Only Sarah knew.  
  
"I'll miss you, Sarah. Come visit me soon!" Toby said. Sarah smiled and blushed slightly.  
  
"And remember not to tell anyone about you-know-what." She whispered. Toby nodded eagerly.  
  
That night that Toby had been looking for Sarah a year before, he had discovered his sister kissing a boy! The boy's name was Will Stanton. He had been broad shouldered, tall, brown haired, brown eyed and very kind. He had been shocked and embarrassed when his girlfriend's six-year-old brother began to cry at the sight of his sister with a guy. Some quick magic tricks (not real magic) saved him from Toby's bad side. He was lucky since Toby ruled most of Sarah's life and without his praise, however young he was when giving it, Sarah would follow it to the letter.  
  
"Is Will going to college with you?" Toby asked as he leapt onto Sarah's wonderful bed and dangled his tiny legs over the edge. Sarah smiled as she continued to pack.  
  
"Yes, he'll be there. I'm going to have a roommate too."  
  
"What's that?" Toby asked curiously.  
  
"That's a person that you live with for a while." Sarah explained. "They are going to be two girls. I haven't met them yet but I hope that they're nice." Toby tilted his head slightly.  
  
"They'll be nice to you." Toby said with conviction. "Just tell them a story and they'll like you." Sarah smiled at her little brother and his naïve notions. The world, unfortunately, wasn't as reasonable as the little blond haired boy sitting on her bed.  
  
"I'll keep that in mind, Toby." Sarah said. Lugging her over-stuffed duffel bag onto her shoulder, Sarah hurried down the stairs with Toby trailing along behind her like a puppy. She caught her reflection in a mirror and stopped to fix her hair.  
  
Sarah was a beautiful, tall girl with large green eyes specked with golden flashes. Her hair was a beautiful dark brown and her skin was quite pale for most people. Her figure had curved slightly since her trek in the Labyrinth even though Hoggle told her that she looked the same as ever.  
  
Her friends from the Labyrinth only visited Sarah by speaking to her through mirrors. Actually coming took magic which they didn't posses. At least they could speak to her, and this helped a great deal since they were always there when she called (even if those times were sometimes the wrong time).  
  
"Bye Sarah." Karen said as she walked past, an extra bounce to her step as she walked. Going towards Toby, she tried to kiss his cheek and probably hug him, but the little blond boy squirmed out of his mother's grasp and rushed to hug his sister around her long legs.  
  
"I'll miss you Sarah!" Toby said before smiling up at her. Sarah smiled back and squatted down to be at eye level with the boy.  
  
"I have a job for you." Sarah whispered excitedly as her green eyes danced. "I want you to guard my special book from the mean, smelly goblins. Can you do that for me?" Toby nodded vehemently. "Good."  
  
Sarah's father drifted past her, not even noticing that she was packed and that his second wife was beside herself with fury. Giving Toby a quick kiss, Sarah opened the door to her house and stepped out into the world.  
  
  
  
Michu sat under a beautiful maple tree filled with purple, orange, brown, and some green leaves, her eyes scoring through a book, as usual. As she read, she made no signs of seeing the three girls and their boyfriends coming towards her. The boys gazed at her longingly, even if they tried to hide their interest in her perfect curves and alluring aura. The girls reacted in the exact opposite way, just as other jealous creatures behaved.  
  
"What do you want?" Michu's calm voice asked as she turned the page to her book, eyes never leaving her place. The girls jumped but then smoothed over their reaction.  
  
"We just wondered why you always sit by yourself instead of eat with the rest of us." One of the girls said. She curled a nervous finger around a dyed strand of blond hair. The unsaid 'because you think you're better than us?' hung in the air maliciously. Michu chuckled and changed her page even if her eyes never left her book.  
  
"You mean to tell me that I would much rather prefer watching you eat and then throw it all back up again just to go kiss your boyfriend?" Neither of the two genders at that place liked her words for completely different reasons (the boys obviously hadn't thought of this).  
  
"Watch it." Another girl warned.  
  
"Or what?" Michu asked quietly, her piercing blue eyes lifting to stare right through them all. "You'll use your cell phones on me I suppose." The third girl glared at Michu but her eyes wavered when she met those cool blue sapphires.  
  
"Just watch it." She croaked.  
  
"I'd prefer not to waste my time." Michu said as she got up. Marking her book, she brushed her cloths off gracefully. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to my dorm." Without another glance, Michu left the girls and their slightly slower than a doorknob boyfriends to stare after her.  
  
Rolling her eyes once she was away from them, Michu hoped for the millionth time that her new roommate wouldn't turn out to be like them. Ever since leaving the Labyrinth, Michu had discovered that humans were not only cruel but also bizarre. They tended to over-complicate their lives to an extreme level.  
  
Opening her empty dorm room and coming to sit on her favorite love seat, Michu pulled out a note pad and pen to get down to writing.  
  
The only reason that Michu had come to the Human Realm was to find some sort of peaceful place where she could forget about the Goblin King for at least a little while. She had started college just to see what it was like and had delighted that her writing turned out to be very wonderful for the mortals. They wanted to see more and more of it, and they wanted her to write it. So eventually she decided to stay and she had been living there for a year.  
  
She had met her roommate, Selena Finella, in a bar. The girl had been partying pretty hard when she had fainted on the dance floor. Curious and wondering what had happened, Michu had taken her away from the man who had been walking towards her. When the man saw her approach, he turned tail and ran like the wind.  
  
It took her several days to finally figure out that he had probably put something in her drink and been hoping to rape her. Making sure that Selena had been unconscious; Michu transported herself and the girl to her dorm room. Once there, she helped Selena recover.  
  
Selena soon learnt the boundaries of her friendship with Michu and only crossed those boundaries once. After that, she didn't dare. Michu had a nasty habit of starring intently at everything she looked at, and this ended up giving her a frightening reputation of being a witch. When Selena told her this, Michu laughed loudly, finding the whole thing hysterical.  
  
As Michu sat curled up and writing, she allowed all of the emotions she felt: the anger, the betrayal, the hurt, and the penetrating sorrow, wash over her and find its way onto her note pad. This was a creative writing assignment which her English teacher had assigned. Ms. Luke didn't like Michu and had decided that she was a bad writer, but she was in for a big surprise when Michu was going to turn in her next paper.  
  
A soft knock came from her door and Michu rose from her sorrow very slowly. Wiping away some stray tears which had managed to escape the barriers which were her eye lashes, she walked towards the door.  
  
  
  
Sarah took a deep, shuddering breath as she stood in front of the door. She didn't know what to expect but whatever it was, she had a good feeling about it.  
  
A/N: Thank you to Jenny and Xithemonas *who were the only ones who had the time to review before this chapter was posted* for reviewing the story so far! ^.^ You guys put me to shame! So many reviews!  
  
You guys obviously know where this is going but there will be more plot twists soon. I'm still not done with this story! For from it! 


	9. To Meet With the Reason Why Hurled

Chapter: To Meet With the Reason Why Hurled  
  
When Michu opened the door, she blinked several times in the dim light of the hallway. The girl standing before her was tall (taller than she was) with dark brown hair and beautiful hunter green eyes with hints of gold. Her skin was nearly as pale as Michu's and she had a very nice smile.  
  
Sarah looked into the room as the door opened and looked over the shorter girl standing in front of her. The girl was very beautiful with lavender colored hair which reached a thin waist. Her eyes were a piercing cobalt blue which seemed to pierce Sarah's soul. She held a book in her free hand.  
  
"You must be Sarah." The lavender haired girl commented. "I'm Michu." She said, reaching her hand out politely. Sarah smiled and tried not to show how nervous she was.  
  
"It's nice to finally meet you." The instant that Sarah's hand touched Michu's, a spark could be felt by both girls. Michu pretended not to notice, even if she rubbed her palms as she helped Sarah in.  
  
"Would you like something to drink?" Michu asked as she took Sarah's duffle bag into her new room. Sarah was looking at the various crystals lining the shelves and crunched together beside books upon books.  
  
"I'd like some water please." Sarah said when she remembered that Michu had asked her a question. Michu returned with a glass of water as she sat down on the couch regally.  
  
"Tell me something about yourself, Sarah. Do you have any family?" Sarah took a sip of her water and smiled. At least she wasn't the one who had to break the ice.  
  
"I have a mother, father, stepmother, and a younger step brother." Sarah said before drinking some more water. Her throat felt very dry. "Toby is seven." Michu smiled reassuringly.  
  
"What are your interests? What do you want to be when you leave college?" Sarah blushed slightly.  
  
"I'd like to become a writer." She admitted. "When I was a little younger I wanted to be an actress like my mother. Now I just want to get away from her glamorous image and become something on my own."  
  
'She has the look of a dreamer.' Michu thought to herself quietly as she starred directly at Sarah without even blinking (it was a nasty habit). 'The Goblin King would have liked her.'  
  
"I want to become a writer as well." Michu commented. "Writing is a way of releasing my emotions since I have some trouble crying at times. I don't seem to have enough tears or energy to do it properly." Both girls chuckled. "Would you like to read some of my work?"  
  
"I'd love to." Sarah said. As she took the notepad from Michu's long fingers, she wondered briefly how she could be so comfortable with this girl after only just meeting her. Sarah was only comfortable with her little brother and her magical friends. People without magic didn't seem to like her all that much.  
  
'Michu must have her own kind of magic.' Sarah told herself as she began to read. Immediately she was plunged into darkness, tears springing to her eyes as she threw herself into the reading, forgetting where she was. She didn't even notice that Michu was watching her reaction quietly.  
  
When Sarah finished, she took a deep, shuddering breath and felt her cheeks. To her surprise, tears were still escaping her eyes in streams as she struggled to compose herself.  
  
"That was . . . very wonderful." Sarah whispered once she could speak without her voice breaking. "Something very terrible must have happened to you for you to be able to write this." Michu starred at her for a long time before she began to speak quietly.  
  
"I fell in love with a man once. We were only children at the time, maybe five years old." Michu's eyes began to loose their ferocity as her mind traveled into the past. She went to the years when she had been five hundred years old to be more precise. "My parents forced me to go to a party when I wanted to read. They didn't approve of my reading, especially at such an early age."  
  
Taking a deep breath, Michu continued, her eyes glazed over. "That was when I saw him. He was so handsome, and so magical! I was very surprised when he asked me to dance and all of the adults around us kept saying how cute we looked dancing. They said that we made a very nice couple." The edges of Michu's lips turn up into a wistful smile. "He kissed me after the party; my very first kiss. He swore that he would never forget me and that he would always love me."  
  
"What happened?" Sarah whispered when Michu didn't make a move to continue. She was shocked and intrigued by this story, especially because she had met the girl only a few minutes earlier.  
  
"My mother didn't approve." Michu said. There wasn't even a hint of anger, only bitterness. "She said that our magicks wouldn't blend well. Can you believe that?" Michu laughed, but it was a forced laugh. "He promised me that if I came to him, he would take me away to his home so that he could marry me. Imagine this at five hun-, five years old."  
  
"Love at first sight is like that. Love is blind." Sarah whispered. Michu nodded thoughtfully.  
  
"I agreed. When I was fifteen, I went to see him. He had completely forgotten me; he didn't even know my name." Michu shook her head. "So last year I pretended to be an old . . . crush of his. I thought that if I could just make him understand that it was me, then maybe he would remember his promise."  
  
"What happened?" Sarah was running several of those terrifyingly depressing versus from Michu's writing and fought down the urge to cry again. This was obviously what had inspired Michu's wonderful, but sad, writing.  
  
"He discovered me in the end and told me that he never wanted to see or hear of me again as long as he lived." Michu said this very calmly, as if she was commenting on the weather. Sarah could see through this act immediately since she did the exact same thing whenever she was terribly upset.  
  
"He sounds like an asshole." Sarah commented bitterly. Michu shook her head.  
  
"He's the most wonderful person." She said. "I'm just not the one for him. I hope he finds what he wanted and gets it. He really deserves the best." Sarah stood up angrily.  
  
"That isn't true!" Sarah said passionately, feeling her acting side take over. "He shouldn't have promised that he would marry you if he wasn't going to! That's just . . . just . . . not fair!" After Sarah blurted this out, Michu blinked. Sarah was actually very shocked that something could have gotten her to say those three words.  
  
'It's not fair!' Sarah had virtually erased that phrase from her memory. She refused to say it anymore since being in the Labyrinth. What was fair? What could she compare to the word 'fair'? 'You say that so often. I wonder what your basis for comparison is.' The Goblin King's words echoed eerily in her memory, mocking her for being so childish as to repeat the phrase.  
  
"The world isn't fair, Sarah." Michu whispered ominously, mirroring Sarah's memories. As Sarah starred into Michu's now cold blue eyes, she realized something. Michu had that same accent which Sarah remembered belonged to the Goblin King. She even sat the same way that he would have, and she had that same obsession with crystals.  
  
"I didn't mean to say that." Sarah admitted. "It slipped out. I don't tend to say things like that since I was younger. Of course the world isn't fair." Michu still kept that same, emotionless expression.  
  
"You must be Sarah!" Both girls were shocked at the sudden extra voice. Selena rushed forward to shake Sarah's hand before beaming down on them. "Don't tell me that Michu's already scaring you! She really is nicer than she looks."  
  
"Selena, watch your words carefully." Michu warned. Once again Sarah was reminded of the Goblin King.  
  
"Yeah, er, sorry about that." Selena said meekly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Anyway, I was going to tell you that I was patient and waited for our roommate to come before I went clubbing! You guys have to come with me! Please?" Sarah blinked and turned to Michu.  
  
"You know I don't like to go to those." Michu said wearily. Selena leapt forward and gave Michu her best puppy dog eyes.  
  
"Please? Pretty please Michu?" Michu starred at her for a long time before glancing at Sarah.  
  
"Do you want to go, Sarah?" Sarah smiled slowly and nodded.  
  
"I'm not much of a party animal so we could just sit at a table or something. Keep each other company." Michu smiled faintly and glanced at Selena.  
  
"Alright, we'll go. If you dare to get yourself drunk, I'll leave you for whatever jackass was smart enough to put something in your drink." When Michu went into her room to take a shower humming a strangely familiar song, (with the first words being 'Twists and turns') Selena grinned at Sarah.  
  
"She doesn't mean it, you know. She's actually really nice. Sometimes she has these mood swings and she becomes the ice princess. Oh, and that's something else you should know. Never call her 'princess' or you'll find yourself sleeping outside. She basically rules this place but she hates being called that."  
  
"Why?" Sarah asked curiously. She found that she liked being flung into this sudden social life. She felt a lot more wanted now that she seemed to have gained two very different friends.  
  
"Beats me." Selena said, shrugging dismissively. "I don't know. I tried to ask her once and she just said that a lot of people used to call her that and she never liked it. Said that her name was Michu and not 'princess'. Oh well, just a warning for you to know about."  
  
Sarah found this to be a very interesting thought to mule over. Something in Sarah's mind had been trying to somehow connect Michu to the Goblin King. If Michu hadn't been a girl, Sarah might have thought that they were the same person! But the Goblin King took his title very seriously and didn't seem to like being called anything BUT Your Majesty. Shaking her head, Sarah walked towards her new room as Selena went off to find something wear.  
  
"Welcome home, Sarah." Sarah muttered to herself.  
  
  
  
Michu and Sarah were watching Selena dance with several guys as they themselves sat at a bar. Each of them held a drink (water) and both were lost in their own thoughts as the up-beat music pulsed through their bodies. Several guys had already asked for both girls to dance with them, but both had politely declined.  
  
Sarah felt as if she knew why Michu kept refusing to as much as look twice at a guy. 'She's still in love with that guy who broke her heart.' Sarah thought. 'Well, I'll get them together! That or I'll kill him myself!' With that thought taken care of, Sarah ordered herself a stronger drink so that thoughts of the Goblin King asking her to dance would be erased from her imagination.  
  
Michu hadn't wanted to tell Sarah but her drink was actually quite strong. Being a pixie, Michu's body was much more immune to alcohol and poisonous foods (or drinks) than a human's. She again thought about Sarah's sleeping magic. Could Sarah be a magical creature too? Why did her appearance and her name strike a memory?  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Xelena, phoebemoon, Megan, Xithemonas and terrie *you're close but no cigar ^.^* for reviewing the story so far! ^.^ You guys put me to shame! So many reviews! Just so all of you know, Michu and Sarah have no idea who the other person is. Michu has yet to remember portraying Sarah in the Labyrinth and she hasn't figured out where Sarah's magic comes from.  
  
Today is my birthday! ^.^ Would you guys give me more of those wonderful reviews as presents? Please? 


	10. Into This Torrent of Nightmares

Chapter: Into This Torrent of Nightmares  
  
"Are you done with your assignment yet?" Sarah asked from her spot on the plush couch, her legs tucked under her like a giant cat. Michu glanced at her from behind a computer screen.  
  
"I just have to print." She said as the printer came to life. Sarah nodded her head absent-mindedly and continued to write on a notepad. Michu starred at Sarah for a long time before she glanced at her computer again.  
  
"I want you to come for dinner with my parents." Sarah said suddenly. Michu glanced at her and then smiled faintly.  
  
"You want some company huh? What are they bothering you about now?" Sarah sighed, knowing that Michu would have caught her immediately no matter how off-handed she tried to sound. The two had been roommates and the best of friends for the past four years. Sarah still hadn't spoken of the Labyrinth yet. She knew that Michu would think she was a freak and in need of some serious help.  
  
"They want me to come home and forget about everything I studied in college. They expect me to be an actress and they said that college wasn't necessary to become an actress." Sarah shook her head and sighed. "They just want me to become their house slave and take care of Toby for them."  
  
"I can't wait to meet Toby." Michu said with a mischievous smile. She was actually wondering what this wonderful little brother of whom Sarah constantly talked about was like. No doubt he was incredibly intelligent for his age. Sarah refused to associate with anyone who didn't have a large quantity of brain cells (which made her friends few).  
  
"Sorry I can't come, Sarah." Selena said as she plopped down beside the tall girl. "My boyfriend wants me to meet his parents and I can't just reschedule that." Sarah waved the excuse away.  
  
"I understand. I would have asked Will to come to my house too but his parents want him at home for Thanksgiving since he's done with college and all." Michu grabbed the pieces of paper from the printer and handed them over to Sarah. Selena leaned over Sarah to read as well, both of them instantly reaching for a tissue box at the same time.  
  
"Don't worry; I won't let them say anything to you." Sarah said, her eyes filling with tears as she read through the first parts. Towards the end a smile appeared on her face and she put down the paper with a contented sigh.  
  
"Hey!" Selena grabbed the paper and finished reading where she had left off.  
  
"Good, your writing isn't as sad as it was before. It's much better." Michu smiled and came to sit with the other two girls.  
  
"'Free from the restraints of the world at last, my heart is pierced by betrayal as I flew towards my hard-earned freedom.'" Selena whispered, shaking her head. "This is bad for me. My boyfriend always wants to know why I've been crying after I come in here."  
  
Michu and Sarah laughed.  
  
  
  
"Please come in! You must be Sarah's friend." Karen said delightedly. She had her short blond hair exquisitely styled, she wore a crisp tan skirt and a pink blouse, and her face was perfectly made up. Michu could honestly say that she hated this mortal on sight.  
  
'How could Sarah have possibly lived with this dream-less creature for so long?!' Michu asked herself as she smiled her most polite smile.  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Michu Phixie." Sarah was slightly relieved when she saw that Michu wasn't fooled by her stepmother's false show of interest in one of Sarah's friends. Both of them entered the house to find two males sitting in the living room. An old man with a crooked nose and dark brown hair tinted gray, looked up from watching 'Wheel of Fortune'. He smiled and rose.  
  
"Welcome! You must be Sarah's friend from college. I'm Sarah's father." Michu shook his hand and felt absolute ignorance through contact with his flesh.  
  
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Williams." Michu said with a strained smile. She could stand stupid people just about as much as she could stand being bitten by a piranha.  
  
"SARAH!" Michu watched as a blond blur zipped past him and smashed right into Sarah. Looking just a little down, Sarah smiled at her brother. Toby was eleven, white-blond, blue eyed, and handsome. He grinned up at his sister and then glanced at Michu suspiciously out of the corner of his eyes.  
  
"Toby, this is my best friend Michu." Sarah said, gesturing towards Michu. Smiling faintly, Michu went right up to Toby and whispered into his ear.  
  
"Finally! Someone with dreams to match Sarah's!" Toby looked at her strangely and Michu winked. "Your 'playing dumb' act won't work on me." Blinking several times, Toby smirked.  
  
"We must be going! You don't mind taking care of your brother while we're gone, do you Sarah? Your friend just got here, she must be tired." With a quick wave, both of them were out the door.  
  
"Don't mind them." Toby said, his voice and demeanor changing instantly into relaxed intelligence (which meant that he spoke as if he knew quite a lot instead of looking at everyone dumbly). "They always do that if someone comes over."  
  
"Have you eaten anything yet Toby?" Sarah asked as she moved towards the kitchen. Her brother bound after her, his eyes dancing with happiness at seeing his older sister again.  
  
"No. Karen said that you would make me something to eat." Sarah rolled her eyes slightly.  
  
"Figures. Michu, would you set the table? Toby can help me cook in the kitchen." Michu grinned and began to set the table for three. Toby waited for Michu to be out of earshot before he looked up at Sarah.  
  
"I like her." Toby said. "She realized that I'm not stupid." Sarah smiled at him.  
  
"She's a very good friend of mine. She wants to become a writer, just like me. Which reminds me Toby, is the book still safe?" Toby rolled his eyes slightly (he only pretended to be annoyed with his sister for fun).  
  
"It's fine." He said. "I made sure that no one touched it. No smelly goblins." Sarah laughed.  
  
"Good! So how are your friends Toby?" Toby yawned slightly and stood by his sister as she cleaned the dishes. Karen had purposefully left all of the necessary utensils in the sink (unclean) so that Sarah would have to clean them.  
  
"They're fine. They wanted to play with me but I said you were coming home from college. I wanted to see you." Sarah smiled.  
  
"Thanks Toby." She said as she handed him a fork to dry off.  
  
"Are you two done?" Michu asked as she poked her lavender head into the kitchen. "The table's set. Do you need any help here?" Sarah wondered briefly how Michu had managed to set up the table so quickly, but she brushed it off as one of the many talents which Michu possessed. She was good at just about anything.  
  
The only thing that Sarah knew Michu despised was physical work. She hated all sports and claimed that they were a waste of time. She also explained how much it damaged a person's brain when they were hit by a ball or something. She especially despised football for its obvious push towards violence.  
  
"Sure. We could use some help. Right Toby?" Sarah smiled at her brother, who smiled just a brightly back.  
  
"Yeah!" Michu came over to him and ruffled his golden hair.  
  
"You see Sarah? A right little gentleman. I bet he would be a perfect knight to go after a damsel in distress!" Sarah laughed.  
  
"And the villain is a Hell-bent wizard who fell in love with the girl!" Sarah said, splashing Toby a little with the water.  
  
"And the boy forced to live with two peasants when he himself is a young prince in disguise."  
  
"The Prince of Princes!" Sarah added.  
  
"Yes." Michu said mysteriously. She took up a table cloth and threw it over herself like a cloak. Toby was listening breathlessly. "He travels away from his cottage in the dead of night, knowing the risks of running but also knowing of a secret assassination planned for him! Along the way, he meets the girl who is running from her own family ties."  
  
"They decide to run together!" Sarah continued, wiping her hands on a rag and opening a drawer as Toby's attention was on Michu. She pushed the tape into a tape player and spooky music filled the room.  
  
"Then what happened?" Toby asked with rapt attention. Sarah came up behind Toby slowly, her eyes on him as her fingers were outstretched.  
  
"Then . . ." Michu said dramatically, not giving Toby a hint that Sarah was behind him, "then . . . the wizard attacked them!" Sarah grabbed Toby and all three of them screamed!  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Silver Space, Jenny, phoebemoon, Megan, and terrie for reviewing the story so far! ^.^ You guys put me to shame! So many reviews! I hope all of you liked my little made-up story. If you guys want more of that little story, I'll think of how to add more about it later if you ask me. ^.^  
  
I think it's obvious that I want more of your WONDERFUL reviews! I love you guys! You're so nice to me! ^.^ 


	11. Where Life is So Unfair

Chapter: Where Life is So Unfair  
  
"Sarah! Sarah!" Sarah turned towards her little brother and laughed when he hugged her fiercely. Sarah shrugged off her brown overcoat and unwrapped the scarf around her neck. The orange and red leaves on the trees out the door were falling softly, marking the coming of winter. Sarah smiled and straightened her blue sweater and dark jeans.  
  
"Hey Toby, how've you been?" Toby smiled up at his older sister happily.  
  
"I'm fine." He said, peeking over her shoulder to look outside wistfully. He seemed very disappointed. "Where's Michu?" He asked in a slight pout.  
  
"She couldn't come. She was working on her book. Do you remember what it's called?" Toby shook his head. "It's called-,"  
  
"SURPRISE!!" Michu leapt through the door and dragged Toby into a delighted hug. Toby cried out in delight as his favorite 'aunt Michu' came in through the door breathlessly. Her long lavender hair was pulled into a Druid half-ponytail and her purple overcoat added some more color to her already pink cheeks. "How are you Toby?"  
  
"I missed you!" Toby confided, his eyes glowing warmly.  
  
"Then that must mean that you miss my presents as well!" Michu reached into her turquoise bag and pulled out a present. "Christmas is still about a month away, but today is very special to me. I want you to have this." Toby opened the gift with wide eyes and gasped at what he saw.  
  
"Michu!" Sarah whispered, her own eyes growing wide. Inside was a little soft blue book labeled 'Kindled Spirits' along with a pendant necklace. Carved into the silver medallion were five simple words.  
  
"'I am protected by magic'. Thank you Michu." Toby whispered as he ran his fingers over the engraving. Sarah whirled on Michu but she was innocently putting her scarf and coat on the coat hanger.  
  
"Go on into the kitchen. We'll be there in a moment." Sarah said. Toby rushed off into the kitchen, his nose already buried into the book that Michu had written and signed for him. It was his favorite story: the one which Sarah and Michu had invented the first time he had met his second favorite person in the world (Michu).  
  
"Michu, where did you get that?" Sarah whispered when Toby was out of earshot. Michu turned to Sarah with a smirk on her face. She brushed aside her lavender hair and took off the black gloves on her hands.  
  
"I wrote the book, remember?" Sarah sighed, angry that she had caught Michu in one of her riddling moods. She tended to be just like Jareth in that respect.  
  
"It was a family heirloom. I wanted Toby to have it." Sarah didn't seem entirely convinced.  
  
"You spoil him rotten with all of your presents. First was that little ruby dagger and then there was that bucket of candy when Karen wouldn't let him go out for Halloween! And then a month ago there was the-,"  
  
"Sarah." Michu interrupted boldly. "If I choose to give you and Toby gifts, then you must realize that their price means nothing to me. Those gifts are mine to give and you both are very special to me." Sarah smiled faintly.  
  
"You're spoiling us." She warned mockingly. Michu shrugged.  
  
"I just wish I had more people to spoil." She said with a crooked grin. "Now let's go get dinner ready before we loose Toby in my book completely!" Sarah laughed and led the way into her warm kitchen.  
  
  
  
It was during the middle of dinner when it happened. Michu and Sarah had been telling Toby about the new book they were writing together and Toby was nodding reverently, telling them what sounded good and what should probably not be included. Sarah was laughing about a particular scene that Toby was suggesting when there was a knock on the door.  
  
Getting up, Sarah went to the door still laughing merrily. Michu was making faces at Toby when she heard a loud gasp from the door. It wasn't Sarah's but actually someone with a similar voice. Being curious, Michu went towards the door and froze.  
  
"Sarah! You're grown so much!" The woman at the door hugged Sarah tightly, not seeming to notice the stiff body in her arms. The woman was taller then Sarah because of her knee-high black boots. She wore a tan skirt and a faded pink shirt. She had Sarah's face, Sarah's hair, Sarah's skin, but her eyes were a different shade of pale green.  
  
"Mom." Sarah whispered. Michu glanced at her worriedly. Her voice had cracked in the middle of the syllable. "What are you doing here?" She whispered again. Linda ex-Williams gazed adoringly at her overly pale daughter and swept a fragile hand over her quivering cheek.  
  
"I've come to see you of course!" Linda said dramatically, her eyes shifting over towards Michu. Eyeing the girl carefully, she took in her long lavender hair and her porcelain skin. Her sharp cobalt blue eyes fazed her, but only for a moment. "Whose your friend, Sarah?"  
  
"Sarah took a deep breath and tried to smile. Because of her numerous acting talents, she managed to pull it off. "This is my best friend from college. Her name is Michu Phixie." Linda's brush-stroke eyebrows touched her hairline for a moment before she smiled her million-dollar-movie-star smile.  
  
"I've read your book! Terribly depressing but wonderful when you're performing a tragic movie." She said. Glancing at Sarah for a moment, she smiled again. "You wouldn't happen to know when your next book would be finished, would you? I'm sure Sarah would like some of the credit; she has such a wonderful imagination." Sarah paled drastically.  
  
"Sarah and I are writing a book together." Michu said emotionlessly, her eyes still piercing Linda like twin lasers. "We will receive equal credit." Linda nodded, smiling.  
  
"Writing is a good past time! It's a wonderful way to gain recognition before becoming an actress, right darling?" Sarah said nothing, not smiling nor even retaining any form of color on her face as she trembled softly.  
  
"Sarah can do whatever she wishes to do with her life." Michu said lightly, seeming to not notice her friend's emotions. "Of course, I'd think that making money wouldn't matter to her since we share the rent in our apartment." Linda's eyes widened ever so slightly.  
  
"I see. So you're both living together? Do either of you have a boyfriend to speak of? I haven't heard very much about this." She added, turning to flash her blinding smile at Sarah. She continued her mute stare at the floor.  
  
"Sarah has a boyfriend. His name is Will." Michu said for her mute friend. Linda's eyes opened wider but she covered her obvious shock with yet another smile.  
  
"And what about you Michu? Do you have a boyfriend?"  
  
"No, I don't have a boyfriend at the moment." Michu continued airily. "No point, distracts me from my work. After all, writing is a very quiet business. Sounds and distractions are often bad for business." Linda seemed about to agree but she stopped at the dangerous glint in Michu's eyes. "I'm afraid you caught us at a bad moment, madam. We are almost finished with dinner." Linda caught the hint fairly quickly.  
  
"I'll be going then. Call me later Sarah! Bring your . . . charming friend with you." She nodded to Michu and made to leave before she saw Toby starring at her. "Oh, and have a good day, Tommy."  
  
"His name is Toby." Sarah whispered. Her voice was strangely calm, devoid of any feelings or emotions. Glancing up, she looked at Linda blankly, as if she was anyone on the street but her own mother. Linda blinked and shrugged dismissively.  
  
"It doesn't matter; begins and ends with the same letters anyway." Smiling her movie-star smile again, Linda swept out of the house and to her expensive-looking car. Her heels clicked loudly on the concrete and loud dance music erupted from her car the moment she turned the thing on. Waving once, she drove off down the corner and took a sharp turn at full speed.  
  
Once she was gone, Sarah took a deep, shuddering breath. Her cheeks were slightly flushed now and she refused to meet Michu's piercing gaze. Instead, her hands reached in front of her as if she was afraid of falling over at any moment.  
  
"Excuse me, I have to go lay down for a minute, please." Without another word or backward glance, Sarah walked up the stairs and slammed her old bedroom door closed behind her. Shaking her head angrily, Michu turned to smile at Toby.  
  
"Who was that lady?" Toby asked as Michu lead him back into the living room to finish his food. He was looking up at her with curious, sky blue eyes. His golden hair shimmered slightly in the candles that Sarah had begged to use instead of the usual lights. She had said the whole room seemed more magical when it was almost completely dark.  
  
"She's Sarah's mother." Toby made a face.  
  
"That's Linda? She looked like a movie star! But I thought movie stars were nice; she didn't even know my name." Michu tapped a long, hard nail against the wooden table and smiled warmly.  
  
"Some movie stars aren't very nice."  
  
"But I thought MOMS were supposed to be nice to their children!" Toby cried. 'He can be so naïve sometimes,' Michu thought to herself, slightly irritated. She hated to admit to something like that about Toby, but his simple answers for complicated questions often frustrated her. Even Sarah couldn't understand Michu's unnatural death-grip on reality sometimes.  
  
"Not all moms are good ones." Michu said. Toby thought about this and sighed melodramatically (a habit he'd picked up from being around Sarah all the time).  
  
"Maybe I should wish her away to the goblins. But Sarah would be mad at me." Michu's fingers stopped in mid-stretch as she reached for her water glass.  
  
"What did you say Toby?" Michu whispered emotionlessly. Toby was fiddling with the pendent around his neck and didn't see the expression on Michu's face in the flickering candlelight.  
  
"You know, wish her away to the goblins, the Labyrinth, and the Goblin King. Sarah told me all about that story. About a girl who went through the Labyrinth to save her baby brother and how the Goblin King was supposed to be in love with her but was really unfair." Toby seemed very proud of himself for remembering the story so well.  
  
"What was the Goblin King's name? Do you remember?" Michu whispered in that same, low voice. Toby glanced over at her and screwed up his face in thought. The candles flickered again as a soft wind touched Michu's face (a betrayal of her anxiety). 'Please don't let it be him, please don't let her be the Sarah that he was talking about,' her thoughts whispered.  
  
"Sarah told me that it was 'Jareth'." Michu starred at the wall for a long time before she got out of her seat and moved towards the stairs. "Michu?"  
  
"Please read my book and tell me if it's still good." She said, not slowing down and not looking back. Toby shrugged and turned back to his book. He didn't see the look on Michu's face as she went up the stairs and towards Sarah's closed door. Starring at the soft white wood for a long time, Michu could feel her anger building to an extreme level. She wasn't worried about being discovered; only her hate consumed her.  
  
In her hand, an emerald dagger materialized seemingly out of nothing. It had been a very long time since Michu had used her magic, but she wasn't about to ignore the joy of the feeling. Moving the dagger around in her hand for a savoring moment, she could feel her eyes glow apprehensively.  
  
"Sarah, this is for Jareth." She whispered as she opened the door slowly.  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Jenny, Megan, Xithemonas, draegn_fire, Queen of the Underground *welcome aboard* and terrie for reviewing the story so far! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! Well, it seems that our darling Sarah is in a bit of trouble. ^.^ Evil cliffie, I'm sorry for taking so long. If you guys review, I'll update faster!  
  
I think it's kind of obvious that I want more of your WONDERFUL reviews! I love you guys! You're so nice to me! ^.^ 


	12. Bring Tears of Light

Chapter: Bring Tears of Light  
  
Michu peered into Sarah's room cautiously, her dagger clutched tightly behind her back. Her lips were set into a thin line and her eyes were narrowed to angry slits of cobalt. What she saw made her pause.  
  
Sarah had thrown herself onto her bed and was weeping into her bed. Hair spilling over the edge of her quilt and her body shuddering frighteningly, Michu felt such pity and guilt in what she had planned to do that she instantly banished the dagger from whence it came. Walking slowly forward, Michu sat beside Sarah.  
  
"Sarah?" She whispered quietly, feeling her hate ebbing away into the recesses of her mind as she watched Sarah lift her head slowly.  
  
"Michu?" Sarah's voice cracked and Michu couldn't help it as more guilt overwhelmed her. Sarah's face was tear-stained and puffy, her eyes a mixture of red and hunter green flecked with gold. The place where she had been crying was soaked from her tears and she sniffed several times to clear her runny nose.  
  
"Tell me what the matter is." Michu whispered as she rubbed Sarah's back soothingly. Sarah took a deep breath before her entire face trembled and she threw herself into Michu's waiting embrace.  
  
"I can't believe that woman is my mother!" She cried, sobbing into Michu's shoulder. The lavender haired girl rocked Sarah gently, rubbing her back and making soothing noise to calm her down. "She deserts me here and then she just shows up after all of this time! And I didn't say anything!"  
  
"It's alright, Sarah. She's gone now. I won't let her do anything to you, I promise." Michu whispered, her anger completely gone and in its place was motherly affection and a need to make Sarah happy.  
  
"No, it's not okay!" She said angrily, her sobs becoming louder. "It's NOT okay! Today was supposed to be a special day for you and Toby to see each other! This shouldn't have happened!" Michu rubbed Sarah's back again, trying to calm her down.  
  
"Sarah, everything's alright. You're alright. Don't worry; she won't make you do anything. I won't let her. Just cry it off; you'll feel better when you're done." Michu assured her.  
  
After several more minutes of crying, Sarah was finally spent. She pulled away slowly and Michu couldn't help the sharp intake of breath she took. Sarah was incredibly pale and she trembled from the energy she had spent crying. She smiled faintly.  
  
"I'm a mess." She said without any prompting. Michu smiled faintly.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Sarah." Sarah wiped her eyes and tucked her long legs under her body. Taking another deep breath, she looked Michu squarely in the eyes. Michu returned that stare.  
  
"Michu, I want to tell you something. Something I've never shared with anyone; not even Toby. Will you believe me if I tell you about this?" Michu could feel her face turning slightly red and turned away for a moment to regain her composure. She turned back to Sarah and nodded very slowly.  
  
"You can tell me anything." She said. "If you need me to believe you about anything, than I will believe you. What is it that you want to tell me?" Sarah fiddled with her sweater and finally stood up.  
  
She went over to a little drawer right inside of her vanity and unlocked it by means of a key which she took from a golden chain around her neck. Opening the drawer and pulling something out, she returned to sit beside Michu. Taking another deep breath, Sarah handed over whatever was in her hands.  
  
It took all of Michu's icy composure not to react in any way. The little red book with golden engravings reeked of magic and Michu both feared and loved it. 'Labyrinth' was scrolled across the top and Michu could see that the pages were yellow with age and slightly worn from constant use. Looking up, she found Sarah on the verge of tears yet again.  
  
"I went through the Labyrinth when I was sixteen." Sarah began. "I'd come home right after a down pour caught me in the park. Karen wanted me to baby sit Toby again without asking for my permission first." Sarah laughed slightly, bit it wasn't a pleasant laugh. "I was so angry at her for making me take care of him; that was the time that I hated Toby."  
  
Michu kept her face emotionless, her fingers unconsciously fingering the little red book. Magic sprang into her eager fingertips and she wanted to simply close her eyes and feel the magic seep through her and cleanse her from her years of life without it. Still, she wanted to know Sarah's story.  
  
"I wished Toby away to the goblins." Sarah blurted out, tears again streaming down her face as she desperately tried to brush them away. "I was so mad! But I didn't think it would work. The Goblin King came and took Toby away to his Labyrinth. He would have turned my little brother into a goblin."  
  
Sarah had to clear her throat and brush away more tears before she could continue. Michu mutely handed her a box of tissues which Sarah gratefully accepted. After blowing her nose, Sarah continued.  
  
"I agreed to travel the Labyrinth in order to get Toby back. Along the way I made many mistakes and a few friends here and there. I still talk to them sometimes when you aren't looking." Sarah grinned at this. "In the end I got Toby back and I thought my life was wonderful." Sighing angrily, Sarah couldn't help but glare at a picture of her posing mother.  
  
"But then you began to wonder about something." Michu whispered quietly. Sarah nodded and bowed her head in shame. For some reason, she felt that saying any lies to Michu would be like trying to lie to Toby. She just couldn't bring herself to do that.  
  
"I began to wonder what the Goblin King was really like. Did he really love me? Why did he grant my wish in the first place? And why is he so cruel?!" The last part was directed at the mirror in her room for some odd reason. Michu remained silent but inside, she felt extremely old. She could feel her two thousand and one years as if each year was a ton on her back.  
  
"I began to have fantasies of what I could have asked him for if only I'd asked. I wondered what was in my dreams (he offered me my dreams). I wondered what would have happened if I had ever chosen to exchange myself for Toby." Sarah shook her head. "But he's evil. I HATE him! He took Toby away from me."  
  
Michu felt her cheeks growing red once again. How could Sarah be so blind? He had granted her every wish! He had done everything for her! He had even defied the Labyrinth's written-in-stone rules to suit her every whim! He could have let his magical kingdom rein and used its full force, just as it had for her own trails in the Labyrinth. Rubbing her forehead, Michu again felt her age creep back into her.  
  
"Why did you start dating Will then?" Michu whispered. Sarah stiffened considerably and turned her face away so that Michu wouldn't see the embarrassment and disinterest in Will which covered her beautiful features. Still, she didn't take into account the window behind her and the fact that Michu already knew the answers to her questions.  
  
"I . . . needed someone to get my mind off of him." She whispered. "I can't go back to the Goblin King, not after what I did to him. Not only did I humiliate him, I threw back his gifts and spited him in every way possible. Will was just . . . backup." Michu stood up and walked towards the wooden door. Sarah turned to her in confusion at the sound of her soft footsteps, wondering why Michu refused to look at her directly.  
  
"DAMN YOU SARAH!!" Sarah was shocked by her usually placid best friend's outburst. Michu slammed her fist against the door, which moaned under her fury. Michu whirled around, her eyes burning loathingly. LOATHINGLY!! Sarah had never in her entire life, not even in the most frightening places in any part of the Labyrinth, had she seen anything more terrifying then her best friend's glacier-like eyes.  
  
"Michu . . . ." Sarah whispered meekly. She felt like a guilty child who had just been caught breaking the vase which held her grandmother's ashes. No, actually, she felt like a child who had just shot her dog while playing with her father's pistol.  
  
"Sarah, you . . . I mean . . . I can't believe . . . you selfish little . . . ." Shaking her head and pacing furiously, Michu finally growled to herself. "I'll be back. I'm going to take a walk." Throwing open the door and stalking out, Sarah could faintly hear the front door open and slam shut. She felt as if she had been slapped.  
  
Michu took a long walk and when she returned, she glared at Sarah (who opened the door).  
  
"Don't talk to me yet. I'm still not ready to speak to you." She whispered acidly as she entered the house and slammed the door to the guest room. Toby watched the exchange in shock since Sarah and Michu NEVER had a fight. It just wasn't part of their friendship.  
  
Sarah couldn't help feeling very defensive. What business of Michu's was it that she didn't love Will? Why did it matter that she was secretly in love with a Goblin King? Why had she been in such a murderous mood that she had to leave the house in order to cool down? Very slowly, Sarah managed to convince herself that she was the victim in this situation and that Michu was simply over-reacting.  
  
After a moment of thought, Sarah gasped. Of course! Why hadn't she seen it before? It was so obvious! Michu always came on specific days to see Toby and she was always speaking kindly of HIM. Could it be?  
  
'No, it can't be,' Sarah thought to herself a bit jealously. 'Could it?'  
  
Could Michu have been in love with Will?  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to draegn_fire and Lady Sorrow *was this fast enough for you?* for reviewing the story so far! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! Well, it seems that Sarah has made a very WRONG assumption. If you guys review, I'll update faster!  
  
I think it's kind of obvious that I want more of your WONDERFUL reviews! I love you guys! You're so nice to me! ^.^ 


	13. Move Him to Flight

Chapter: Move Him to Flight  
  
Sitting and stirring her coffee quietly, Michu didn't look up when Sarah meekly entered the kitchen. Sliding into a seat beside Michu, Sarah took the steaming mug of coffee in front of her and began to stir it in the same way as Michu.  
  
'She made me coffee, that has to be a good sign. She wouldn't do something like that if she was still mad at me.' Sarah thought to herself as she blew on her spoon before replacing it on its saucer.  
  
"I want to apologize for the way that I behaved yesterday." Michu said very quietly. Sarah nearly dropped her mug in shock. She turned to find Michu gazing absentmindedly into nothingness, her mug to her lips. "I behaved very childishly and I'm sorry."  
  
"I should have known that you liked him." Sarah said meekly. Michu did drop her mug in shock where it shattered and hot coffee splattered all around! Sarah soon found Michu's piercing eyes on hers.  
  
"How do you know that?!" She demanded in a low and slightly menacing voice. Looking down, Sarah drew a long, pale finger over the rim of her mug.  
  
"I pieced it together." She said. "After you got so angry when I mentioned him, I realized that it was the only explanation to why you got so angry. I'm sorry. I should never have done what I did in the first place." Michu kept starring at her for a long time before her features softened.  
  
"I'm sorry Sarah. I've been angry for a long time. Forgive me?" Both girls smirked as they hugged each other happily. Sarah felt as if this was an incredibly cheesy scene from an equally cheesy movie, but she really didn't care. She was just glad to have her best friend back.  
  
What they didn't know was that Toby had crept into Sarah's bedroom. Once there, he discovered something very interesting. Something crimson red with sparkling golden letters. Something which should have never found itself in front of Toby in the first place.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Your Majesty, someone is speaking the words!" King Jareth turned to the goblin sentry. Standing up slowly, Jareth stretched like a giant ginger cat and then opened one brown eye to see the goblin. Jareth wore a pair of black tights and a black poet's shirt. His pendant was flickering in the faint light, his deathly pale chest showing off his tightly coiled muscles.  
  
"What is his or her name and who are they wishing away?" He asked as he picked up his black cane. The goblin smirked, revealing its foul and pointed yellow teeth.  
  
"Toby Williams has wished himself away." He said. Jareth instantly flew forward to stand before his smirking goblin.  
  
"Why?!" He demanded. "What did he wish exactly?"  
  
"He said, 'I wish the goblins would come and take me away so that Michu and Sarah can stop fighting, right now.'" Jareth's face turned extremely pale before he grabbed his cloak out of thin air (and some glitter) before he flew out the window in his owl form.  
  
'I won't let her hurt you, Sarah.' Jareth swore as he flew as fast as he could to his beloved Sarah.  
  
  
  
  
  
Michu and Sarah were actually getting back into friendly conversation about future book ideas when the door to the kitchen flew open! Moonlight flooded in and glitter flew everywhere, causing Sarah and Michu to grab onto each other in shock. When the glitter and the wind finally mellowed, both girls turned their eyes to discover a seething Goblin King!  
  
"YOU!" Sarah cried, horrified. She quickly grew furious but her anger turned into shock when Jareth stormed towards Michu.  
  
"What do you think you're doing here?!" Jareth demanded icily, his mismatched eyes boring into her cobalt eyes. After several moments of shock, Michu's entire stance became defiant.  
  
"I have as much a right to be here as you do. Even more so than you do considering I was INVITED." Michu said with just as much cold anger as the Goblin King had displayed. Jareth began to tremble with fury.  
  
"Do you think you can fool me, pixie." He spat out the last part. "Even hiding your aura I can feel your magic! Get out of this house!" Michu crossed her thin arms over her chest and glared at him fiercely.  
  
"After YOU, Goblin King. I will not leave until Sarah herself tells me to do so." Jareth opened and closed his mouth angrily, but words failed him. He just couldn't voice his absolute loathing which was resulting from her presence at that moment.  
  
"I won't let you kill Sarah." Jareth growled. Michu began to laugh coldly, which was a very bad thing considering here current position. Her own hurt and fury was the only thing keeping her from weeping and running away from him as fast as she possibly could.  
  
"If I wanted to kill her, I could have killed her years ago! We've been roommates for years!" Jareth remained in that same, shocked stance as he had before. Whirling around to face Sarah, he discovered that her mouth was still hanging open and she was starring from Jareth to Michu.  
  
"How do you know her? How do you know him?" Sarah demanded, clearing her throat several times. Michu glared out the window sulkily, allowing Jareth to explain the situation for both of them.  
  
"Your . . . friend can explain it to you in my Labyrinth." Sarah made a face, finally recovering from her shock.  
  
"Do you really think you can just drag us off to the Labyrinth? You have no pow-!" Jareth rushed forward and placed a gloved finger to her lips. Michu could feel her face turning red with jealousy.  
  
"You don't want to do that, Sarah. I have your brother and if you want him back, the only way to enter my Labyrinth would include believing in it." He said. Michu was still trembling with rage at finally seeing the man that she loved again, but now he had diverted his entire attention to Sarah.  
  
"You have Toby?! How could you take him away from me! Give him back to me!" Sarah nearly screamed. Jareth simply stood back and motioned the way he had come from. Through the door was the Labyrinth, its stone walls glowing as the moon began to rise over it. Sarah's eyes widened at the dark and terrifying walls (very different from the ones she had passed through during her trial through the Labyrinth).  
  
"Do you really want to find him, Sarah?" Jareth asked her quietly. Sarah shielded her eyes from the glitter which floated all around them. She noticed vaguely that Michu hadn't moved but was instead starring out over the Labyrinth. She seemed to be deep in thought because her eyes were glazed over and not their usual piercing blue.  
  
"I'm going." Sarah said with conviction. Glancing over Michu carefully, she remembered the fight they'd had and wondered about her earlier decision. Perhaps she had known Jareth before when she had been a pixie as he had said before? Had she fallen in love with Will when she'd been a pixie?  
  
Michu refused to acknowledge any of the looks which Sarah was shooting at her. She wanted to tell Sarah and just bee done with everything which she had worked so hard to conceal. On the other hand, if Sarah discovered her than their friendship would meet another bump in the road.  
  
Around the larger and darker Labyrinth there was a dark forest. Sarah couldn't think of anything living within the Labyrinth. Perhaps if she went through it, no one would stop her? And where was the sun? Would she and Michu be walking in the darkness?  
  
"Do you still want to look for him?" Sarah glared at Jareth before she turned back to the vision before her. She, again, didn't see the jealous look which Michu sent her way because she was fighting down the urge to blush in front of the Goblin King.  
  
Jareth was leaning over Sarah and breathing in the scent of her hair. Sarah wore a pair of faded jeans and a long sleeved white shirt. Her hair was completely loose save for a single hair brooch which kept most of her hair out of her face.  
  
Michu's lavender hair hadn't moved a single bit during the journey from Sarah's kitchen to the Labyrinth. Her hair only rustled slightly in the wind of the hilltop, and her purple long sleeved shirt strengthened the color of her hair.  
  
"I'm going to save Toby." Sarah said with absolute conviction. Jareth shrugged.  
  
"You and your . . . friend have thirteen hours before your baby brother becomes mine forever." He vanished but his disembodied voice remained. "Such a pity." Michu rubbed her temples for a few moments before she turned to look at Sarah.  
  
"We should get going." Michu said. Sarah raised an eyebrow at her best friend so Michu sighed. "I never told you that I was a pixie." She said.  
  
"He wasn't lying?" Sarah demanded in shock.  
  
"Not everything he says is a lie trying to trick you." Michu reprimanded. She began to walk down the hill when she turned to find Sarah still at the top. "Are you coming or am I the only one who'll be saving Toby?" Michu demanded, trying to cover up her lack of a historical background for Sarah to see.  
  
"I'm coming." Sarah said, feeling herself blush at the mean words. Glaring down at her sneakers, Sarah moved forward quickly. "Come on feet."  
  
Michu watched as Sarah came towards her without any hint of anger. Maybe she would be able to get away with not telling Sarah about her history. Her heart increased with hope at the thought.  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Xithemonas, terrie, AriaThea *welcome*, Lythandae *welcome*, lily *welcome*, Megan, SaffronAngel *welcome aboard*, Jenny and Silver Space! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! Did I scare you guys with the previous chapter? To tell you the truth, I kind of scared myself as well. But at least now Jareth's finally here (not necessarily to the rescue ^.^).  
  
O.o So many reviews! I nearly had a heart attack! I think it's kind of obvious that I want more of your WONDERFUL reviews! I love you guys! You're so nice to me! ^.^ 


	14. The Journey Too Steep

Chapter: The Journey Too Steep  
  
Toby Williams was not a happy eleven-year-old when he woke up on a stone floor. Groaning and rubbing his abused head, Toby sat up slowly so as not to inflict any more damage upon himself. In his mind, he wondered if he'd had a concussion or if he was hallucinating the prison-like walls around him.  
  
Why would an eleven-year-old know what a concussion or hallucinations are? When young Toby had been in the Labyrinth at his early age of four, he had been left alone for the first two hours of his arrival. Jareth had already begun the process of pumping Toby's tiny body with magic. When Sarah took Toby back, he'd taken what magic he had and slowly begun to learn things from his own world because that magic made him more aware of his surroundings. This was one of the many reasons that he played dumb and waited to see if people took him at face value.  
  
Standing up slowly, the child prodigy placed his most innocent and dumb look on his face that he could manage at the time with the dull thud of his heartbeat banging against his skull. He wasn't entirely shocked to discover tall, green, and absolutely horrifying creatures standing over him.  
  
"Where's my big sister?" Toby asked in, yet again, his most innocent voice. One of the creatures laughed and poked his side with a long, slimy green finger. It bared its teeth in what could be roughly judged as a smile.  
  
"The boy pretends well!" The creature said with a laugh. "He would have made an excellent goblin had his sister not taken him back." All of the creatures laughed, their voices like a high-pitched wind snapping through treetops during a hurricane.  
  
"Its too bad he's too old now to become one of us!" Another, slightly shorter green creature said.  
  
"Yes, its really too bad." Yet another creature with long, black nail commented with a toothy smirk.  
  
"Enough, you'll scare the boy just as you did before!" King Jareth said as he made his way towards Toby. The little blond boy lifted his fists and would have hit Jareth if there hadn't been something frighteningly familiar about him.  
  
King Jareth was a tall man with wild blond hair and mismatched eyes. One eye was a dark brown, warm and welcoming. His other eye was a glacier-like pale blue, cold and forbidding. He wore a black cape, gray tights, and a white poet's shirt with his muscled chest glowing palely. His smile was predatorily, and scary because of his sharp teeth.  
  
"Do I know you?" Toby asked politely even though he could FEEL the answer in his bones. He KNEW this person! How many times had Sarah told him about the terrible Goblin King? Jareth smirked at Toby's question and sat back on his circular throne, one leg thrown lazily over an armrest.  
  
"Don't play games, young Toby." Jareth said. "You know very well who I am." Toby tried to look innocent.  
  
"I can't know you. You're a stranger." Toby said logically (a little too logically for a person in his position).  
  
"Toby, I will not repeat myself." Jareth said with light finality. He could be cruel and scream the truth in Toby's face as the little blond boy was dunked into what had once been the Bog of Eternal Stench, but he just didn't want to. Jareth happened to like Toby quite a bit since he probably would have become Jareth's favorite goblin.  
  
"Alright, I know you're the Goblin King." Toby finally said when it became apparent that Jareth wasn't going to buy into his act. Darn, and he'd thought he was getting to be as good as Sarah!  
  
"That's much better. I didn't give you knowledge simply to have you become an idiot." Jareth said coolly.  
  
"You gave me magic?" Toby couldn't help the note of curiosity that entered his voice. There was something about Jareth that he couldn't resist. Michu had it too. Perhaps he just liked their magic. "Why did you give me magic?" Jareth laughed and motioned towards a crystal that materialized in his hand. Toby came forward to see what it was.  
  
"I gave you magic, little one, because you would have been mine."  
  
  
  
  
  
Sarah and Michu had been walking for quite some time. Checking her watch, Sarah rubbed her temples in exasperation as a light to their right marked the sunrise.  
  
"How long have we been in here?" Michu asked as she wiped the perspiration from her forehead. Sarah was a little surprised that Michu was so tired. It was true that they had been walking for several hours, but no one would be wobbling so much from just walking!  
  
"We've been in here for about five hours." Sarah said, leaping forward to grab her friend when Michu swayed dangerously on her feet. Michu regained her balance, however, and refused to let Sarah touch her. Motioning ahead, Michu's breathing became more and more labored.  
  
"Are you okay?" Sarah asked quietly when her friend swayed forward dangerously again. Standing up stiffly, Michu sent Sarah a warm, but tired, smile.  
  
"I'm fine. So tell me, what happened when you went into the Labyrinth?" Sarah knew that Michu was changing the subject on purpose, but she knew even better that Michu wouldn't like Sarah pointing out her obvious discomfort and rapidly increasing weakness. With a heavy sigh, Sarah began to explain to Michu what she had done when she was in the Labyrinth with her friends.  
  
  
  
  
  
'Just a little bit wouldn't hurt. Just one spell . . . but Sarah would know. She knows that I'm a pixie, but she doesn't understand. She doesn't know about my power.' Michu thought as her vision began to blur. 'Why now?!' she demanded angrily. 'Why couldn't this have happened years ago?!'  
  
"So then Ludo summoned the rocks and I didn't get any of the bog on me." Sarah said with a laugh. "Now that I think about it, the Bog of Eternal Stench really wasn't all that scary. The smell was really bad, true, but it was better than some eight-headed hell-hound coming out of nowhere and chewing us into bits." Sarah kept on talking, seemingly forgetting that Michu was lagging behind more and more.  
  
Michu wanted to tell Sarah to slow down, just a little would be fine, but her pride wouldn't let her. 'If I tell her I have to slow down, she'll know something's wrong.' Michu told herself firmly as she reached out to support herself against the cold stone walls. She could feel their magic and their reaction to her own suppressed magic.  
  
That was the reason that Michu was suddenly so weak. In the Human Realm, hiding and squishing her magic wasn't all that difficult. It was all a matter of discipline and forcing herself not to think of the beautiful things her magic could create. Just one sweep of the hand and her lamp (which seemed so far away after hours of working) would instantly turn off. Just a little tug of magic and that loudmouth jerk sitting beside her would go flying, leaving her alone. Just a little magic and she could get some PEACE from the life style she had forced herself to undertake.  
  
Pixie magic was different from any other kind of magic. It thrived when suppressed but when released, it exploded in its power. Michu had been holding her power in for five hundred and seventy two years. No one knew, but that was the record of the longest time a Fae had ever gone without magic. Her little sprout of magic with the dagger had awakened her magic and it had been trying to force itself through her ever since her dagger had been banished away. Goblin magic was similar to pixie magic, but to suppress it was absolutely impossible. Jareth actually held THE record for not spending magic for an entire twenty-four hours.  
  
"Sarah . . . ." Michu finally gasped, her voice coming out as only a whisper. Sarah kept on talking, not having heard her friend at all; even though she felt something was wrong, she wasn't about to make her friend angry for bringing it up. "Sarah!" Michu cried a little louder. Her knees buckled and she collapsed. Sarah whirled around and gasped in horror!  
  
"Michu?!" She whispered. She began to run back, not having realized how far behind Michu had been. "MICHU!!" Sarah screamed when one of the walls of the Labyrinth moved into her path, securely cutting her off from her unconscious friend! Banging her fists viciously on the wall, Sarah screamed over the top to reach her best friend. "Wake up! Michu! Please wake up! Jareth, that isn't fair!" The last part was directed towards the castle.  
  
Desperately trying to find a way through the barrier, Sarah finally turned her tearstained face towards the wall. Forcing herself to calm down, Sarah thought of what Michu would say or do in her situation. Coming to an unwanted but realistic conclusion, Sarah shouted as loud as she could.  
  
"Don't worry! I'll get Toby back and then we'll go straight home! I'll take care of you, don't worry!" Sarah screamed. "You're my best friend! I won't abandon you!" Feeling guilty even after her words, Sarah ran the opposite way and in the direction of the castle.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hello Michu." Jareth whispered as he appeared beside Michu's unconscious form. He frowned to find her at foot level instead of chest-level. Getting down on one knee, Jareth picked up Michu so that her body was propped up against his inner thigh. She was breathing hard and her lavender hair was plastered against her skin as beads of sweat formed all over her body. She began to shiver chillingly now that the wind could cool her over-heated body.  
  
"Where's Sarah?" Jareth mused to himself as he picked up Michu's surprisingly light form and took her towards a wall. He smiled faintly when the stone began to twist out of shape, trying to touch her and her magic. She shivered all the more from it. "My dear, you shouldn't be out if you're sick." Jareth said as he went through several walls and sat down on a fountain ledge with Michu cradled in his arms.  
  
"Hello Goblin King." A weak voice whispered. Jareth glanced at Michu's abnormally pale face as she gave him a weak smile. Her cobalt eyes opened very slowly. "Sarah went on ahead . . . and I wasn't sick before I came here. Your damn magic is making me weak." She said before another wave of the chills forced her into silence.  
  
"I have a name, you know." Jareth said airily as Michu's shivers grew worse. "It's Jareth." He added, just to tease her a little. What he received was a hollow laugh similar to an empty breeze.  
  
"Didn't you say that you never wanted to see or hear my name again as long as you lived? Did you die?" Jareth arched an eyebrow, a little surprised to discover that the pixie in his arms was not only joking, but had remembered his words even after all of the years they had been apart.  
  
"I've changed my mind." Jareth shrugged, lifting Michu slightly with his gesture. She arched her own eyebrow in doubt.  
  
"The last time we spoke, you yelled at me. Why did you suddenly change your mind in five hours?" She demanded before she shivered uncontrollably once more. Jareth frowned at her shivers.  
  
"Why is my magic affecting you so badly? I've had pixies and all other kinds of creatures wished away here and they never had such . . . allergies." Both of them laughed.  
  
"It's because I'm allergic to all of your glitter!" When Jareth gave her a be-serious-please look, she giggled again. "I'm not going to tell you. Now answer my question." The cogs in Jareth's mind turned and he smirked at the little pixie.  
  
"I'll tell you the answer to your question if you answer mine." He said with obvious innocence. He loved mind games.  
  
"Alright." 'Yes!' Jareth thought in triumph. "But you have to go first." 'No!' Jareth growled in defeat. Taking a deep breath, Jareth glanced down at Michu again. She had a very strange smile on her face and her eyelids were slightly drooped in a (Jareth gulped) appealing way.  
  
He had only shown passion for two women in his entire life. One was a lost love, the princess of the pixies to be more precise. Sarah was the other. He had given his choice of obsessions a lot of thought and began to notice similarities between Sarah and the Pixie Princess. He'd heard that she had escaped from her kingdom RIGHT BEFORE SARAH CAME TO THE LABYRINTH! No one had heard of her since her disappearance and the only way that would have been possible would have been if she'd gone to the Human Realm. Without Sarah's affection, Jareth had (reluctantly) begun to think about other women. All of the women had been after his throne, or his bed. None of them had ever shown any interest in wanting him for himself.  
  
All except Michu.  
  
She had been the only one clever enough to pose as Sarah and win his affections. She had been kinder, gentler, sweeter, and had loved him terribly. She'd even tricked him into saying he loved her (the new Sarah) and not the old her (the real Sarah). Jareth could see his own want for Sarah's affections in her own eyes during the game shining back at him. She wanted him not for the dreams he promised or the world he lived in; she wanted him for Jareth, not for the Goblin King.  
  
"I changed my mind because I want us to stop fighting." Jareth said simply. Michu starred at him for a long time, her eyes glazing over as unconsciousness began to pull at her. "Now why are you reacting like this to my magic?" Michu chuckled. Jareth knew right away that she was asleep as her eyelids fluttered closed and her dream self began to speak to him.  
  
"It's not your magic, it's the lack of it. I'm holding in all of my power so that Sarah can't realize who I am." Jareth's eyes widened in shock at her words. She was holding in her power?! No wonder she had been hard to pinpoint! He knew she had more magic than a light bulb (the amount which was emitted from her pale form)!  
  
"Idiot." Jareth muttered, not knowing whether he meant himself or Michu. Seeing a faint smile on her face, he shook his head. There was only one thing he could do to stop Michu from going into a coma (which was going to happen fairly soon since she was obviously too stubborn to use her own magic to save herself). Leaning over slightly, Jareth placed his lips against her own.  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Lady Sorrow, susan, terrie, draegon_fire, ShopGirl42, GoddessVixen, Megan, Jenny and Queen of the Underground! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! I got the idea of Toby's scene from one of you guys (you know who you are ^.^). And now WHAT does Jareth think he's DOING to Michu when he still shows feelings for Sarah?! It's like a soap opera but BETTER!!  
  
O.o So many reviews! I nearly had a heart attack! I think it's kind of obvious that I want more of your WONDERFUL reviews! I love you guys! You're so nice to me! ^.^ 


	15. The Body Must Weep

Chapter: The Body Must Weep  
  
'He's very warm,' was the first thing that popped into Michu's mind when she came back to herself. The next thing she noticed made her feel even safer. 'His magic is yummy.' Jareth was transmitting some of his magic into Michu by way of a kiss.  
  
A kiss.  
  
Michu's eyes flew open and she rammed her hands upward! Jareth fell backwards and Michu landed on the floor, hard. Regaining his balance angrily, Jareth glared at Michu through narrowed eyes.  
  
"What the HELL was that for?!" He demanded as he stood, towering above her. Michu scrambled to her feet and glared at him squarely in the eyes (even if she was a head shorter than he was).  
  
"What do you think you're doing?! Why would you kiss me if you have feelings for Sarah?" She demanded icily, her heart repeating to her that she was an idiot and that a few more minutes of that kiss wouldn't have hurt. Her mind, however, was snapping at her heart to be silent for once.  
  
"I was trying to HELP you." Jareth hissed. "You would be in a coma right now if I hadn't given you magic. What the HELL are you doing, keeping your magic squished up inside of you?! How long have you been without magic?!" Michu arched an eyebrow.  
  
"Several hours." She said. "Last night as a matter of fact." Jareth starred at her in disbelief.  
  
"And before that how long had you gone without magic?" Michu stiffened and turned her eyes away so that he wouldn't see the emotions warring inside of her.  
  
"Five hundred years, give or take a few decades." She confided. She could feel Jareth's shock and . . . pity? Michu turned to him at last and kept his gaze. 'Just say it! Say that you know WHY I hid it for so long!' She pleaded to herself.  
  
"How . . . why would you . . . what could have pushed you to something so . . . WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO IT?!" Jareth hadn't meant for his thoughts to become so angry. He just couldn't stand the thought of Michu doing something so . . . absurd! Sarah would have been furious to know this!  
  
"Don't you DARE tell her!" Michu hissed, reading Jareth's thoughts on his face. Taking a deep breath, he replaced his emotionless, cool mask.  
  
"I won't." He said with cold formality. "Just know that I didn't kiss you because I love you. I kissed you because Sarah would never have forgiven me if you killed yourself." With that last statement hanging like a fog between them, Jareth spread owl wings and flew towards the castle.  
  
Michu had never felt more alone in her entire life.  
  
  
  
  
  
"TOBY!!" Sarah screamed as she raced through the gates of the Goblin City. She'd had a very rough time with several trolls and a pack of sleep- inducing fairies.  
  
Trolls were nasty but incredibly stupid creatures. They towered over Sarah like a bus and their limbs were thick like tree trunks. Their skin was dark blue mixed with a hideous gray, their bulging eyes entire black and their pointed teeth sometimes crunching on their own tongues! Each one held a massive club which had nearly taken Sarah's head off several times.  
  
The fairies had been even more terrifying. They were clever little creatures with pointed ears, long flowing pink dresses, and a crown of flowers on their heads. They had beckoned to Sarah at first, their pale arms fluidly moving in tantalizing circles to draw her in. When she had tried to pass by them, their faces changed into those of jackals and they descended upon Sarah in hoards! She barely managed to escape (after they had forced her into sleep).  
  
After those creatures, she faced the new and improved Fireys. After hearing their rather satanic new song, she had started running desperately. They had been after blood, their eyes like those of wild animals. They wanted to maim Sarah, cut her into tiny little pieces, and burn her to ashes.  
  
After this long run she had come across the human-eating slugs which had nearly had Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus for their evening meal. Fortunately for her, she was able to climb several trees and get over a wall to escape them.  
  
"Toby!" Sarah yelled as she rushed into the goblin city, her eyes searching for any sign of her brother. Bursting into the castle, she was shocked to hear the distant sound of her brother's laughter. Rushing clumsily, Sarah managed to scrap her palms and her knees on the stone stairs as she run towards the sound of her brother's voice.  
  
After a long run and whimpering from increasing pain, Sarah finally arrived in a throne room. It was actually different from what she remembered. The old throne room had been dirty, grimy, dank, and it had smelled suspiciously of chickens and bodily fluids which she didn't want to think about.  
  
What she now saw was an elegant copy of the crystal ball room after she had eaten the peach. Sarah wondered for a crazy moment whether she had actually eaten another peach and simply didn't realize that she was now dreaming. A black crystal throne greeted her instead of a strange iron and leather one.  
  
"So Sarah, have you been enjoying my Labyrinth?" Jareth whispered behind her. She whirled around to find him in a black poet's shirt, black tights, and his usual black gloves. Sarah gulped as she starred into his ice blue and warm brown eyes.  
  
"That wasn't fair; what you did with Michu. Where is she? Did you hurt her?" Jareth laughed coldly at her accusations.  
  
"How naïve you are Sarah! You know nothing of your friend and yet she knows everything about you! You must think that I caused the wall of the Labyrinth to move in order to block your way?" Sarah starred at Jareth in astonishment.  
  
"Wait, you mean you didn't do it?" Sarah laughed giddily. "Do you really expect me to believe you?" Jareth shrugged as he took a step towards Sarah. She, in turn, took a step away from him.  
  
"You must believe that her sudden illness was my doing as well? No, Sarah, I didn't do anything. My Labyrinth has a mind of its own. I would go mad if I controlled every little movement and every little strand of magic which is my Labyrinth. No, it wanted to teach you a lesson, my dear."  
  
Jareth took yet another step towards Sarah and she took yet another step away from him. Jareth obviously had no sense of personal space since he was already touching upon the fringes of Sarah's personal space. As much as she secretly wanted to let him touch her, she was simply too proud to let it happen.  
  
"And why, pray tell, did it want to teach me a lesson? Are you trying to say that the Labyrinth actually has its own brain?" Sarah demanded angrily. She was really sick of playing Jareth's mind games. She just wanted her brother back and time was slowly running out.  
  
"It wanted to teach you that you must look closer to your relationships. You stumble into them without thought of the consequences and that will lead you to despair. Even now you don't know who Michu is or how I happened to have recognized her earlier." Sarah blinked, actually surprised that she had forgotten that little detail.  
  
It was actually true that Sarah usually plowed into relationships (whether they were romantic or just friendship) and she had ended up heart-broken at times. The only relationships she actually had a good effect from were her friendships with Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, Michu, and her other roommate Selena. Her other friendships had deteriorated and even her opinion of Will was changing very quickly.  
  
She was beginning to picture him as back up. She had been turning down dates from him recently, giving him all kinds of excuses. She had even gone so far as to use Michu as well. Michu was her safety; the true friend that would listen to her every problem. But she was in love with Will and had reacted violently to what Sarah had said about him. She knew it wasn't fair, but she'd shrugged it off as claiming that Michu was over reacting. After all, girls did that all the time in Sarah's world! Nothing was fair!  
  
"How do you know Michu?" Sarah demanded. Jareth just starred at her for a long time and then opened his mouth to speak.  
  
"Where's Sarah?" Sarah stiffened when she heard her little brother's voice. Whirling around, Sarah sprinted from the room to find her brother. Her time was almost up and she had to find him before it was too late to get him back.  
  
  
  
  
  
Michu had been trudging through the Labyrinth rather aimlessly. For a very odd reason, she discovered herself at the gates of the Goblin City without any difficulty at all. Beautiful fairies pointed her in the right direction and several wood nymphs had shown her a short cut through their forest.  
  
The fairies were light-hearted creatures with long brown hair down to their ankles. Around their necks, wrists, waists, and ankles were bracelets of different flowers. They wore soft pink tunics which suited their figures perfectly, drawing out every virtue.  
  
The wood nymphs had been beautiful little sprits. Their long, tanned arms were tattooed with green vines and their eyes shined a beautiful hinter green. They were a crown of leaves and flowers, their brown tunics adding more to their earthly effect. Their laughter was like the wind rusting through overhead branches. Each one of them smiled warmly when Michu passed.  
  
Two things could have been true about what had lead Michu through the Labyrinth so quickly. The first was that when a person wasn't trying to get to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth, then they ended up there anyway. The second reason would be that the Labyrinth WANTED Michu to be at the castle gates. Michu knew very well that the Labyrinth was a living thing. She could feel it through the soles of her shoes and in the palms of her hands when she allowed herself the luxury of touching the magic in the walls.  
  
"Twists and turns,  
  
When thy heart churns.  
  
Fight tooth and nail,  
  
The soul does wail.  
  
In battles of grief,  
  
The hands just weep.  
  
Into the depths of the world,  
  
To meet with the reason why hurled.  
  
Into this torrent of nightmares,  
  
Where life is so unfair.  
  
Bring tears of light,  
  
Move him to flight.  
  
The journey too steep,  
  
The body must weep.  
  
As daylight breaks,  
  
Comes the baking of cakes.  
  
On vibrant pixie wings,  
  
The furious night bird sings.  
  
Through dangers untold,  
  
And hardships unnumbered.  
  
Wherever you may be,  
  
Her heart will always belong to thy.  
  
Love her forever and never,  
  
Eternity."  
  
Michu sang softly as she made her way up the steps to the castle and found herself in a strange labyrinth. The stairs around her were side-ways, upside-down, backwards, forwards, confusing, and absolutely logical all in one.  
  
As she starred at the creation before her, she could just make out a head of golden hair. At that moment, her gloomy mood vanished and she screamed as she ran forward!  
  
"TOBY!!"  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Lady Sorrow, susan, terrie, draegon_fire, Megan, Jenny and Flaming Fae! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! I hope you guys are still enjoying this! After the next chapter, things will become a little MORE complicated! ^.^ We're two thirds done with this fic! So don't go away!  
  
O.o So many reviews! I nearly had a heart attack! I think it's kind of obvious that I want more of your WONDERFUL reviews! I love you guys! You're so nice to me! ^.^ 


	16. When Daylight Breaks

Chapter: When Daylight Breaks  
  
Michu ran through the indoor Labyrinth as fast as she could. When Toby disappeared and reappeared elsewhere, she noticed Jareth starring at her upside down. With an angry growl, Michu snapped her fingers to rustle her magic.  
  
It complied gratefully.  
  
She began to appear and disappear, always closer to Toby. Jareth obviously hadn't expected her sudden burst of magic even if he had no idea that Michu was still hiding nearly all of her magic. He began to follow her, trying to stop her but always missing her as she vanished.  
  
"Michu!" Sarah's voice rang out relieved, shocked, confused, and suspicious. Michu ignored her and grabbed Toby, whose overjoyed arms wrapped around her neck happily.  
  
In that moment, the world fell apart around them and Michu felt her feet touch solid ground again. She found Sarah rushing towards her and hugging both her and Toby gratefully.  
  
"That was unsportsmanlike my dear." Jareth's cold voice rang out as the three of them turned towards him. He stepped forward wearing a white costume covered in owl feathers. He tilted his head slightly and smirked, his pointed teeth making both girls shiver.  
  
"It wasn't as unsportsmanlike as any of your own tricks, Jareth." Michu whispered angrily. She handed over a sleeping Toby to Sarah. He had lost consciousness when they were falling through the air and into this in- between place.  
  
"I see." Jareth said. His eyes turned to Sarah and she withered slightly under his gaze. "Aren't you going to say the words?" He asked smugly. Sarah opened her mouth to speak, maybe to say something crude to Jareth, but she couldn't get any words out. Sarah realized that if she couldn't say the words, Toby would be his forever.  
  
"Through dangers untold," Jareth and Sarah whirled around to discover a predatory Michu glaring at Jareth through narrowed eyes as she spoke. Each word was punctuated with anger and emotion as she stalked closer to him, "and hardships unnumbered. We have fought our way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child that you have stolen. For MY will is as strong as yours! And MY KINGDOM is as GREAT!"  
  
"STOP!" Jareth whispered, bringing his hand up quickly. She couldn't know the words! She couldn't . . . wouldn't say the words! He knew that he had ABSOLUTE power over her! He lifted a crystal, his eyes pleading for her not to speak. Michu faltered, starring into his eyes and ignoring the crystal being offered.  
  
"You have . . ." she whispered, her eyes filling with furious tears when his eyes shifted to Sarah, "NO POWER OVER ME!!" The world around them didn't just vanish or fade away. It exploded!  
  
Sarah and Michu screamed, both of them rushing together so as not to be caught in the explosion! They began to disappear; all that they could see was Jareth starring in shock directly into Michu's eyes.  
  
As he starred, he noticed something oddly familiar about her. Could it be? Could Michu possibly be . . . ?  
  
  
  
  
  
"TOBY!!" Sarah whispered in joy as she cradled him in her arms. He very slowly opened one eye and then the other when he saw his sister smiling down at him, crying.  
  
"Sarah!" He screamed, overjoyed at seeing his sister again! He threw his arms around her and smiled as she hugged him back. Sarah turned to Michu to find her unmoving, her eyes glazed and her usually smiling mouth set into a straight line.  
  
"Are you okay Michu?" Sarah whispered as she placed her brother on the floor. He went over and hugged Michu, trying to get some kind of reaction out of her. She only swayed slightly when he placed some weight on her but besides that she didn't move.  
  
"Michu, what's the matter? Are you mad at me? I didn't mean to wish myself away, honest! I didn't want you and Sarah to fight anymore!" Just then, three extremely red individuals rushed into the room!  
  
"Sarah! Where have you been?! What in the world were you doing?!" Karen demanded shrilly. She pried a protesting Toby away from an empty Michu and glared at her stepdaughter.  
  
"I was . . . mother." Sarah whispered when she noticed the third person. She turned to Michu for help but the lavender haired pixie wasn't in the mental state to do anything but breathe. "What are you doing here?" She managed to demand.  
  
"I'm glad I found you Sarah!" Linda said with a breath of relief. For a minute, just for a fraction of a second, Sarah actually believed that her mother had been worried about her. A slow, overjoyed smile began to form on her lips as tears pricked the fringes of her eyes. She wouldn't even wipe away the tears for fear that she would awaken from this wonderful dream!  
  
Her mother cared! This single thought pushed all others out of her mind. Jareth was swept away to the dark corners where his memories were clustered together. Michu was swept to a closer but still off-set place in her mind. Will and their relationship vanished and every single detail of her life was gone. Even Toby didn't exist in the bubble of happiness that Sarah was slowly creating around herself.  
  
"Now that you're here, you can meet the new agent I hired! Now that you're finished with college, the next step is to get an agent. He's great; single, handsome, a hard-worker, and the perfect man for my perfect daughter. You'll light up Broadway!"  
  
Sarah's smile deteriorated as she starred at her mother. She kept right on talking about the agent and all of the things that would be useful in him. Sarah's eyes saw right through Linda, right through her smile, and right through her very soul. As Linda spoke, Sarah's eyes filled with more tears and very slowly, she could feel her hands balling into fists.  
  
"And then of course you'll-," SMACK!! Linda hit the ground hard! She starred at the floor for a long time in shock before she turned her face towards Sarah. Touching her reddening cheek, Linda could only stare at her furious daughter, her make-up doing nothing to hide the reddening welt.  
  
"HOW DARE YOU CLAIM TO BE MY MOTHER?!" She screamed furiously. This shocked Michu out of her daze because she turned to see what Sarah was doing. Her eyes remained unfocused but she still starred.  
  
"Sarah . . . ." Linda whispered, still too shocked to understand that her own daughter had just slapped her. She felt the sting of her palm connecting with her flesh and could even taste some blood from biting her tongue. Sarah's anger rose at Linda's voice.  
  
"HOW DO YOU DARE?! HOW?! TELL ME DAMNIT!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME WHEN I'M FINALLY GETTING AWAY FROM YOUR SHADOW?!" Linda kept right on starring. Karen and Sarah's father couldn't believe their eyes. Sarah was NOT the violent type!  
  
"Sarah." Sarah turned to find Michu starring directly into her eyes. Taking several deep breaths, Sarah could finally breathe normally. "She isn't worth it, Sarah. Just let it go." Sarah couldn't take it. She broke down crying after she'd securely rammed herself into Michu's waiting arms.  
  
As Sarah cried, Michu just stood there rubbing her back and simply being there. She was giving about as much comfort as a tree. Still, Sarah was grateful for her presence and continued to feel better until Michu finally released her. Sarah knew that determined look in her friend's eyes.  
  
"We're leaving." Michu said. She snapped her fingers and then began to head towards the door. Sarah picked up Toby and began to head towards the door to follow her best friend towards freedom, and the cruel world that freedom resided in.  
  
"Where are you going with my son?!" Karen demanded shrilly when Sarah made no move to put Toby down. Sarah fixed her with a furious scowl before-, SMACK!! Karen fell down as well, her hand touching her reddening cheek. When Sarah's father moved forward to restrain his daughter from leaving (and slapping anyone else) he gasped when he was lifted off the ground!  
  
Michu glared at him, her eyes never leaving his suspended body. Sarah gave Michu a strange look filled with sadness and confusion. "If you dare to come into contact with any of us ever again, I shall personally see to your painful deaths." She whispered. Karen and Linda watched in horror as Mr. Williams just floated in midair without any kind of leverage.  
  
"How did you-?"  
  
"Do I make myself clear?" Michu demanded icily. All three adults nodded dumbly, Mr. William showing signs of wanting to be put down. Michu waved her hand in his direction and he fell, rather hard, on top of both women. They cried out in pain.  
  
"Let's get going, Sarah." Michu said as she resumed her trek out the door. As Sarah began to follow her with Toby still in her arms, Linda rose to her feet and grabbed onto Sarah's arm.  
  
"I love you Sarah! You're my little actress!" She said, her eyes filling with tears. Sarah starred back at her cruelly.  
  
"I am your daughter by nothing but blood." She said coldly. "You have never showed any kind of warmth or love towards me as a daughter."  
  
"Sarah! How could you say something like that to me?!" Linda demanded, growing angry. "I am your mother!"  
  
"I am no longer related to you." Sarah continued coldly, starring into Linda's eyes. "If you continue speaking to me, I'll be forced to call back Michu. We are strangers now." Linda stepped back, hurt written all over her face.  
  
"That isn't fair Sarah." Sarah laughed loudly, for the first time in her life understanding why that mere statement explained how pathetic she had been in the past. It sounded so stupid, even coming from the lips of a practiced actress. Linda and the two other dazed adults starred at her in horror.  
  
"Since when has the world been fair?!" She demanded sarcastically. "The world is fair to no one! And least of all me." Linda's eyes filled again with hurt.  
  
"Sarah, that's terrible! That isn't fair!" 'There she goes again with claiming that whatever I say isn't fair.' Sarah mused to herself as touches of insanity pulled at her. She felt slightly giddy with the power she had over these terrified mortals. If she had magic she could just . . . do something to them.  
  
"You say that so often," Sarah said with a terrible smirk on her face. She could distinctly remember the way that Jareth had spoken those same words to her. "I wonder what your basis for comparison is." Linda gaped at her, obviously not having realized that her own daughter could be so cruel.  
  
"Sarah, I-,"  
  
"No need for long good-byes." Sarah cut in quickly. "Good bye mother. We won't be seeing each other again. If we do, don't expect me to recognize you." With that said, Sarah left the house with Toby tucked under her arms. He was starring at Sarah with a new kind of awe.  
  
"Are you and Michu going to be my new mommies now?" He asked in wonder. The thought obviously intrigued him.  
  
"Yes." Sarah said with a large smile. "Now we'll be your mommies for the rest of your life."  
  
As she slid into the car waiting for them, Sarah turned slightly in her seat to see their entire luggage in the back seat. Toby made himself comfortable on Sarah's lap as Michu started the engine.  
  
"How did it get here?" Sarah asked, jerking her thumb towards their things. Michu quirked an eyebrow and glanced at Toby. He smiled and turned to his sister.  
  
"Magic." He said simply. Sarah laughed and soon they were all laughing rather hysterically. When they finally stopped, Michu turned to them.  
  
"Where to?" Sarah asked.  
  
"Let's let Toby decide for us." Michu said. Toby thought very hard on the question and then smirked.  
  
"California!" He said. Both girls smirked and Michu gripped the wheel of the car hard.  
  
"California, here we come!" She screamed as she dug her foot into the gas pedal!  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to terrie, Lady Sorrow, Mizzy, Serenity, Xelena, draegon_fire, Megan, phoebemoon, Jenny and Flaming Fae! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! I hope you guys are still enjoying this! This isn't over yet (even if that would have been a wonderful place to end it). So don't worry, there's still some more.  
  
It has come to my attention that there have been many changes of heart during this fic. A lot of you want this to be a J/M fic, but I decided from the beginning that this was going to be a J/S fic. But don't fear Michu lovers! There will be a sequel and, if you vote by way of a review, I shall change the romance. This fic will be a J/S as I promised, but the sequel is up to you so review for your decision! 


	17. Comes the Baking of Cakes

Chapter: Comes the Baking of Cakes  
  
"Is the cake ready?" Toby asked excitedly as he rushed around the kitchen. Michu was smirking widely as she gently lathered a chocolate cake with a mixture of chocolates and chunks of strawberries. She wore an apron over a soft blue sundress, her lavender hair tied into a loose ponytail. She and Toby were thoroughly drenched in flour and their hands were sticky from making the fudge with strawberries.  
  
"I'm almost done! Is Sarah here yet?" Toby checked out the window and shook his head. This caused some of the flour which had settled on his golden hair to fall to the floor.  
  
"No. Won't she be surprised? Karen and dad never did this for her!" Michu smiled at Toby and shouted in triumph when the cake was finally finished. Reaching into a drawer, Michu pulled out twenty-four candles and handed them over to Toby.  
  
"Put them however you want on the cake." She said as she went to the sink and washed her hands thoroughly. Toby hummed Michu's favorite song as he placed the candles around the cake's surface, snatches of 'Twists and turns' and 'This torrent of nightmares' could be heard as he made his own design on the cake. When he was done, he frowned at Michu.  
  
"We don't have anymore matches." He told her. "We used the all up for the barbeque you had for my friend." Toby's friend, Roger, was a dark haired boy who hadn't had a decent meal in a long time. Toby had met him on the street and, because he'd felt bad for his friend, had asked his older sister and Michu for a barbeque for him. They'd had a blast.  
  
"Well, don't tell Sarah alright?" Michu winked and Toby's eyes lit up. He watched as Michu snapped her fingers and all of the candles burst into flames! Toby laughed as Michu winked at him again. "Now off you go. Clean yourself up so that we'll surprise her." Toby nodded and rushed off to go get ready. When Toby was gone, Michu allowed her smile to ebb away and a frown to take its place. "And what exactly do you think you're doing here?" Michu demanded.  
  
As she spoke, there was a rustle from the shadows and a figure walked towards her. Jareth wore his usual gray tights as well as a white poet's shirt and his sparkling blue cape. He raised an amused eyebrow when he noticed Michu wasn't even looking at him.  
  
"How did you know it was me?" He asked in amusement as he leaned against the wall. His sharp teeth glistened in the sunlight streaming in through the open window. Songbirds sang beautifully as they hoped from one naked branch to another.  
  
"Your magic told me you were coming." She said simply as she untied her hair and removed her apron. She moved towards the sink and snapped her fingers. A mirror appeared and hanged in thin air as Michu used more water to get rid of the flour.  
  
"Why do you bother?" Jareth asked, still watching as she cleaned herself off. Michu looked at him through the mirror and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Why do I bother? Maybe because I don't want to become terribly lazy and rely completely on magic as all the other Fae in our world do." She said emotionlessly as she began to brush her hair with her fingers. "Again, what do you think you're doing here?"  
  
"It's Sarah's birthday." He said. "I believe I have as much right to be here as you do. Or do you wish for me to play another game with you to make me go away for good?" Michu snorted with laughter.  
  
"As if that would really scare you off anyway; it's hasn't before. You're one of the most stubborn Fae's around." She said, still not looking directly at him. Jareth shrugged, deciding that if he fought with Michu then Sarah would wish him out of her house for her birthday (he wanted to see her, not infuriate her for once).  
  
"I'm only as stubborn as you are." He said.  
  
"Then you really are stubborn." She said, wiping her hands off and waving away the mirror. "Sarah will be here soon and when she arrives, she'll be pretty angry with you." Jareth moved forward at her words. "But you want me to lesson her anger by telling her that you've changed since the last time you met, right?" Jareth stopped walking.  
  
"Well, yes." He said. "I could make it worth your while." Michu snorted.  
  
"I doubt that you have anything that I could possibly want." She said. "You've already proven that you won't give me the only thing that I want." Jareth's eyebrows came together.  
  
"What exactly do you want from me?" He asked. Michu looked at him carefully and then shook her head.  
  
"If you can't figure it out on your own then I'm certainly not going to be the one that tells you. Just go into the living room and wait for me to call you into the kitchen. I'll talk to her. But be warned; Will's coming over with her." Michu was lying of course but she wasn't about to tell Jareth that. Jareth's face went extremely pale at the words and his fists balled up furiously. "And if you attack him with all that magic you're gathering, I'll personally ask Sarah to wish you away." Michu snapped before exiting the kitchen.  
  
Going up the stairs, she followed the lime-colored hallway to the farthest room. She caught a glimpse of Toby scurrying around madly, his eyes jumping as he flew from one side of his room to another in a race to get ready. She passed another bedroom with a queen-sized bed and piles of various books. That was Sarah's room. The final one was her own.  
  
Inside, a small bubble-like window peered out into the driveway and the front lawn. A single tree stood naked in the cold weather, snow frosting over the leaves and the branches. Michu closed the curtain and turned to the rest of her room. A queen sized bed with green blankets faced her right beside a large vanity with books and pieces of paper strewn all over it.  
  
Michu discarded the dress she was wearing as she opened her closet. Inside she found another red dress with lowered sleeves and a moderate neckline. Taking the dress and closing her closet door, she yelped when she saw Jareth starring at her! She grabbed the dress to cover her nearly naked body since she wore nothing but a black bra and panties.  
  
"I don't think I've ever seen you in red." He mused, his eyes traveling the length of her body. He smirked at her after a moment. Michu, at first, was too shocked to do anything but cringe away from him. After a long moment of his smirk, her eyes narrowed and she stood at her full height (which wasn't very tall, even compared to a human's usual size).  
  
"Why you dirty bast-!"  
  
"My my! Someone's upset!" Jareth said with another smirk. Michu glared at him furiously until she snapped her fingers and she was wearing her dress. Jareth seemed rather disappointed but he didn't seem to mind checking her out anyway.  
  
"Why this sudden interest in what I look like half naked?" Michu demanded coldly. Jareth brushed aside her words and kept glancing at places that respectful people do not look.  
  
"You remind me of someone I once knew." He said. Michu stiffened at his words. "She was the Princess of the Pixies, a wonderful girl whom I fell in love with. Unfortunately, the Great War broke us apart and I haven't seen her since." Michu glared at him, her mouth set into a thin line.  
  
"How very touching," Michu said icily. "I suppose you watch Sarah as well because she reminds you of this wonderful princess?" Jareth smirked.  
  
"As a matter of fact, yes." Michu bristled angrily. She threw her hands forward in the Goblin King's direction and Jareth disappeared!  
  
"I hope you don't mind a little time in your own Bog." She hissed. Of course he never made it into the center of Bog of Eternal Stench as Michu had wished, but the vicious intent was there. Just a little more magic and Jareth wouldn't have been presentable anywhere (Aboveground or Underground).  
  
Michu left her room in a sour mood. She would have snapped had anyone spoken to her. One word and she would have snapped her fingers, sending them straight to Jareth's Bog of Eternal Stench. Another word would have made her send that unfortunate person straight into the waiting arms if the satanic Fireys.  
  
Anyone but Toby.  
  
The little twelve-year-old (little because he was rather short) laughed and hugged Michu tightly. She couldn't help but smile at him, her stress slowly ebbing away as he began to beg for her story again, asking over and over until Michu finally complied.  
  
When Sarah, Michu, and Toby had arrived in California, Sarah had been quick to buy them a house. The money came from the various books she and Michu had sold (which accumulated to a rather large fortune). Toby was enrolled in the nearest school and had thrived (not because of the new location) because he had Michu and Sarah instead of Karen and her ignorant husband. Michu had noticed Jareth's presence several times but she never told Sarah for fear that she would want to move. Michu liked the new family she had made since leaving the Underground.  
  
As Michu and Toby sat down at the kitchen table, Michu thought about how much she loved Sarah and Toby. They were her family; her REAL family. Sarah was her sister and she loved her so much, Michu usually harmed herself when Sarah was even remotely sad. Toby was like her own son. She spoiled him rotten and still believed there weren't enough presents in the world to give him. She had really gone all-out for Sarah's birthday, nearly using more magic than was safe considering that she didn't want anyone Underground to locate her and Sarah. She had to keep Sarah safe!  
  
"That was when the wizard used a spell on the girl, making her forget all about her prince and their promise to run away together!" Michu said mysteriously, Toby's eyes widening with glee at this already-memorized part. If even one word was spoken differently or excluded from the telling, he would instantly correct whoever was telling it.  
  
"Then what happened?!" Toby whispered, propping his arms on the table. Michu sat back in her seat, her eyes holding in silent laughter.  
  
Just then, there was a knock on the door and Michu rushed forward to answer. Sarah smiled at her, breath coming out as a silver cloud and her cheeks, nose, and ears a rosy red. She wore a red scarf, a brown overcoat, and green gloves which she removed slowly as she entered the house.  
  
"Why are you dressed up?" Sarah asked curiously as she took off a black hat from her head and shaking out her beautiful brown hair. Michu smiled, her eyes dancing as she pulled Sarah into the kitchen. The candles were dripping wax onto the cake so Michu hurriedly snapped her fingers before Sarah could see.  
  
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" Toby and Michu cried simultaneously. Sarah jumped and then starred at the cake with wide eyes. Toby smiled up at his sister and pushed her towards a seat where plates were set up and even some apple cider (no alcohol) was waiting for them. Sarah's lips began to twitch upward and soon she was crying, a huge smile on her face.  
  
"You guys didn't have to do this for me!" Sarah whispered when the cake was placed in front of her. Michu smirked.  
  
"Now you tell us! I worked really hard to make this thing edible." In reality, Michu had cheated a great deal by using magic whenever she could. She really was a horrible cook and a worse baker.  
  
"Is it safe?" Sarah directed this question at Toby. He nodded.  
  
"I got to lick the bowl when she finished! It was really good!" Sarah needed no farther prompting because she instantly blew out the candles amidst applause from Toby and Michu. And one more person.  
  
"Happy birthday Sarah," Jareth said as he stepped forward. His cape was gone and he had changed his boots but besides that he looked exactly as he had in Michu's room. Michu turned slightly red at the memory and prepared to send him back to the Bog.  
  
"What do you think you're doing here?" Sarah demanded. Jareth smirked at her but then sent a scowl Michu's way.  
  
"That wasn't a nice trick." He said.  
  
"Next time just don't tempt me the way you did." Michu shot back.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" Sarah repeated. Toby glanced from the Goblin King, to his sister, to Michu, and finally back to the Goblin King.  
  
"I came to wish you a happy birthday," the part about 'wishing' made Sarah squirm uncomfortably. Jareth lifted a crystal from thin air and held it out to her. "And I wanted to give you my own gift."  
  
"What's the caught?" Sarah demanded, eyeing the crystal as if it were a rattle snake preparing to bite her. Jareth gave her a look of mock- innocence.  
  
"Why Sarah! Do you honestly know so little about me that you believe I would trick you like that?" He grew serious and held the crystal up for her. "I said that this was a gift, not a trading item." Sarah's raised both eyebrows and slowly took the crystal into her hands.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered. Michu left the living room, unable to stay in that place as watch Jareth flirt with her best friend. If only she didn't care! If only she didn't have those horrible feelings for him!  
  
Michu didn't realize that a little ball of red light zoomed passed the window. She didn't see the messenger pixie stop short and stare in at the supposed humans assembled there. Within two seconds it was back in the Underground to report its news.  
  
Michu was in the kitchen setting up the cake when, quite suddenly, she felt a wave of dizziness overtake her! When she could finally see clearly, she noticed that Jareth and Sarah were standing a few feet away from her! Coming over to them, her eyes grew wide at what she saw before her.  
  
A huge golden throne sat alone at the center of the room. About five tall pixies (two women and three men) looked at them curiously. Each one wore a different colored pair of witch's robes (red, blue, orange, green, and purple) as they watched the new-comers curiously.  
  
"They've arrived!" A voice from beside the throne said excitedly. A rather short woman with dark blue hair which reached her ankles stepped forward. Her eyes were a dark hunter green and she wore a flowing golden dress, several sparkling rings on her delicate fingers. On her head she wore a very elaborate crown of rubies and sapphires, dark green eye shadow brushing her eyes in a similar (but different) way as Jareth.  
  
"Where are we?" Sarah demanded. She didn't notice Michu's glare intensifying at the sight of the woman. The other five pixies glanced at each other, sending each other silent questions as to who these supposed humans could be.  
  
"My darling is back! My little girl has returned to me at last!" The woman said as she took a shocked Sarah into her embrace. She didn't notice the enraged glares from Michu and Jareth. "My daughter, Velderia!" The other pixies gasped in shock.  
  
"Who?!" Sarah gasped.  
  
"The Princess of the Pixies! My daughter!" The woman said, her eyes filling with tears.  
  
"Have I been away from home so long," Michu's biting voice speared through the entire room like an arrow of ice, "that my own mother can't recognize me?"  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Xithemonas, Claire Starling, Morgahn LaStrega, phoebemoon, JLF, and Jenny! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! So now you know who the Princess of the Pixies REALLY is! None other than our darling Michu! What will Jareth do NOW? (You guys DO remember the first chapter of this fic, right?)  
  
It has come to my attention that there have been many changes of heart during this fic. A lot of you want this to be a J/M fic, but I decided from the beginning that this was going to be a J/S fic. But don't fear Michu lovers! There will be a sequel and, if you vote by way of a review, I shall change the romance. This fic will be a J/S as I promised, but the sequel is up to you so review for your decision! So far, the vote is eight to one for a J/S fic. Those of you, who want a J/M fic, speak now or forever hold your peace! This vote will continue until the end of this fic! 


	18. On Vibrant Pixie Wings

A/N: *faints* I got over a HUNDRED REVIEWS!!! YOU GUYS ARE THE COOLEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! *Ahem* and now back to our show, er, fic.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter: On Vibrant Pixie Wings  
  
"Have I been away from home so long," Michu's biting voice speared through the entire room like an arrow of ice, "that my own mother can't recognize me?"  
  
The words echoed like a curse through the hearts of every person there (pixie, human, Queen, or Goblin King). She stood, defiantly, with her arms crossed in front of her chest and a look so full of hatred; some were worried that the woman receiving that glare would whither and die. The woman's cheerful smile vanished and she fidgeted slightly with her dress. The Queen remembered exactly why she had forced herself to forget about her daughter. If Michu had known when she had escaped that the power had already been passed to her-, but no. Now was not the time to wonder if Michu knew about that.  
  
"My darling Velderia!" She finally squeaked, rushing forward to attempt a hug. Attempt because another glare from her daughter made her re- think the whole getting-too-close-to-her-to-make-cursing-me-much-easier train of thought. The woman smiled blindingly at Jareth and Sarah before her eyes widened. "King Jareth! I wasn't expecting a visit from you as well."  
  
"What exactly do you think you're playing at?" Jareth demanded quietly. The woman paled and took several steps away from Jareth as he began to stalk towards her predatorily. "You kidnap not only your daughter, but a human and me to your kingdom. Then you can't tell the difference between your own daughter and the prior mentioned human. Now you don't understand WHY I'M HERE?!" Sarah felt a smile tugging at her lips. Jareth certainly got to the point when he was angry.  
  
"Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness. Please understand that I meant no disrespect to you." Jareth lifted an eyebrow and took a closer step forward.  
  
"If you were my servant, I would be forced to tip you head first into my Labyrinth and see how well YOU would fare without the aid of your precious magic." The Queen's face, at first, was too shocked to do anything. After a moment, a horrible smirk crossed her features and she stood up to her full height.  
  
"Now I have sufficient cause to send you into my Labyrinth, Your Majesty!" The woman said gleefully. She lifted her hands and made the same pushing motion as Michu had when she had been trying to send Jareth into the Bog of Eternal Stench. She yelped in shock and terror when Michu and Sarah grabbed onto him just as the spell became active!  
  
Again Sarah felt that same dizziness overtake her and fairly soon she found herself facedown on the floor! She groaned and rubbed her head, wondering why the floor was so soft. She got her answer when the floor groaned.  
  
"Do you mind getting off of me, my darling Sarah?" Jareth grumbled as he tried to push himself up but to no avail. Sarah leapt to her feet and discovered that Michu was already on her feet, her eyes sharp as she glared at the shadows.  
  
Sarah paused to stare at her. Her skin was the same, her eyes were the same, and she WAS the same Michu except for several differences. Her hair was a darker shade of lavender and red highlights made her seem even more dream-like. She wore not her beautiful red dress but a pair of black pants and a black tank top, a strange Celtic symbol embroidered in silver. Her ears were pointed, clearly visible through her hair, and she radiated fury.  
  
"Does she really think I've forgotten the way through my own Labyrinth?" Michu demanded in an undertone as Jareth rose to his feet and dusted himself off. Michu glanced over at him and snapped her fingers. He instantly wore black jeans (A/N: *gasp*) and a black shirt with that same Celtic symbol on it. Next was Sarah, wearing something identical to Michu's outfit.  
  
"What's the point of wearing these?" Jareth demanded, looking at his jeans in curiosity. Sarah was rather disappointed; even if she dared not voice her opinion for fear that Jareth would never let her live it down.  
  
"When I was younger, I noticed two things from the creatures which traveled my Labyrinth (and if you laugh, Jareth, I'll kill you myself whether you think I can or not). First of all, black blends well and therefore wards off a large amount of monsters. Second of all, the Nightmares here fear silver and even more this symbol. I'm just making our lives a little easier . . . and safer."  
  
"Can't you just get us out of here?" Sarah asked as she looked over her outfit. She actually thought she looked pretty good in it (even though it would be absolutely filthy when they left if this Labyrinth was anything like Jareth's).  
  
"Unfortunately, I can't. My mother used up the last of her monarch power to send us here and I can't change that. It's sort of like a last request." Sarah wasn't entirely sure that she understood but she nodded and shielded her eyes from the bristling sun to look around at the place they were standing on.  
  
The Pixie Labyrinth was different from Jareth's Labyrinth in that it sparkled more and was . . . pink. Michu growled to herself muttering things like, 'when I get out of here, the first thing I'm going to do is renovate this place,' and 'mother really has no taste'. Jareth was muttering similar curses.  
  
"How long do we have to get to the center of the Labyrinth?" Michu shook her head as the two followed her towards the soft white walls ('at least they aren't neon pink,' Sarah thought).  
  
"Its thirteen hours just like Jareth's Labyrinth. Every kingdom has one and each one has specific rules. 'Thou shalt not interfere during the game, thou shalt not speed up time, thou shalt not sic evil creatures on player if angered,'" by the end of these three rules, Sarah was glaring at Jareth pointedly.  
  
He was starring into the Labyrinth interestedly (which seemed a little more organized than Jareth's). He made no indication that he had heard anything that Michu had said.  
  
"So Jareth cheated every freaking step of the way, huh? Well, that just proves how much better I am then him." Jareth whirled around angrily.  
  
"You better than me? Ha! I'd like to see you prove it, my dear" He said with dignity. Michu rolled her eyes, ignoring them as the two bickered senselessly. Michu was just glad that they followed her as she opened the doors to her Labyrinth and began to lead them through it. They were too distracted with each other to notice.  
  
"I beat you in your own Labyrinth even when you cheated!" Jareth didn't say anything for a long moment. "And I beat you again in the last game."  
  
"Michu was the one that said the words. You couldn't bring yourself to do it." Jareth said smugly. Michu murmured some words to a wall and walked through it, closely followed by the other two tag-alongs.  
  
"If you believe it so much, then say the words now." Just as Sarah was about to open her mouth, probably to call the Goblin King something very unpleasant, she noticed that Michu was gone.  
  
"Michu?" Jareth glanced at the place where their guide had previously been and blinked since the patch of earth was empty. Glancing around at the pink walls, Jareth couldn't figure out where she was. "Where is she?" Sarah asked worriedly, bringing her hands to her shoulders. She didn't want to think of what might have happened to her best friend while she had been arguing with Jareth.  
  
"I can't sense her. Damn this place! There's too much magic around here!" Just then, Jareth did something that Sarah thought rather peculiar, probably because she'd never seen him do it.  
  
He sneezed.  
  
"Bless you." Sarah said automatically, more out of habit than actually wishing him well.  
  
"Why did you curse me if you bless me now?" Jareth asked as he rubbed his reddening eyes.  
  
"It's an expression." Sarah said, rolling her eyes. Jareth sneezed again, this time reacting rather violently to the backlash. Sarah turned to find him scratching his eyes (or trying to through his gloves).  
  
"Can we look for Michu elsewhere? I'm allergic to stationary pixie magic." Sarah blinked.  
  
"I didn't know you were allergic to anything." Jareth smirked, his sharp teeth glowing strangely in the light of the Labyrinth.  
  
"There is much that you don't know about me, Sarah." Jareth said as he motioned for the doorway they'd been about to enter. "But since we can't find your darling friend, we should be heading for our destination. The Queen might have blocked her from view to make us waste time; or Michu might have gone to speak to her personally since I can't very well leave." Sarah grumbled and stalked through the doorway so that Jareth could follow her.  
  
Unfortunately, her plan of making him rush to keep up didn't work. Jareth was taller, meaning that he had longer legs, meaning that he was faster than Sarah, meaning her plan was screwed. Needless to say, Sarah was not in the happiest of moods as she walked through her best friend's Labyrinth (even if the one she had been lusting over for the past few years was the only living creature in sight).  
  
  
  
  
  
"Damn you, mother." Michu growled with her cobalt eyes narrowed to slits. She was in ankle-deep mud, her hair was now cut to the bottom of her chin, and she was freezing to the point of shivering uncontrollably. She hadn't left Sarah with Jareth on purpose either.  
  
She had turned a corner and wondered if she could just appear in her kingdom and give her mother a good thrashing so that she would be able to bring Jareth and Sarah back to the castle. Unfortunately, the minute that she waved her hand for her magic to teleport her to her palace, she had felt the spell go horribly wrong halfway through. That was how she'd met up with the Riggur, a large, hellish beast. It was covered in black fur, was about eight feet tall, had sharp fangs, and possessed an incredibly strong whip. She'd ducked its sudden attack (thus loosing a good foot of her hair) and then she'd gone screaming for her life. Now she was stuck in the Marshes of Dread where her feet squelched annoyingly with mud and water and all she could do was trudge on miserably. To top it all off, she winced to know that she'd left Sarah all alone. With Jareth. That was just not a sensibly thing to do considering they were at each other's throats the last time she'd seen them.  
  
"I'll kill her,  
  
String her into hog meat,  
  
She'll be helpless,  
  
To resist my KNIFE!!"  
  
Michu hummed, remembering her mother's stories of a human woodcutter who had been after little pixies and would chop them into pixie dust. She knew that the song got on her mother's nerves and she knew even more that her mother was listening to every single bloody squelch her feet made as she attempted to walk but more like labored through the mud.  
  
"Is there a reason that a charming girl like you is walking through this marsh?" A voice from above said. Michu glanced up wearily to discover a white crow tilting its head in her direction. Its eyes were absolutely blue, rather identical to Michu's. Michu stopped squelching and crossed her arms over her chest, her shivers making her balance a bit strange.  
  
"What are you doing in my Labyrinth?" Michu called up to the bird. "I distinctly remember saying that no birds would be permitted here." The crow tilted his head again and flew down to land on Michu's shoulder (since that was the closest he could get without the two of them having to yell at each other).  
  
"If this is YOUR Labyrinth, than why, pray tell, are you wandering around HERE of all places? I didn't imagine the Queen enjoyed the muck." Michu smirked nastily.  
  
"Who wouldn't? I just LOVE the feel of it between my toes and in my hair! It's just so . . . stimulating." The bird laughed and ruffled its feathers in amusement.  
  
"I suppose it was. I simply prefer the air to the ground. My name is Almanac, King of Dreams." Michu lifted her eyebrows and laughed as she continued walking (squirming) through the mud with Almanac riding on her shoulder.  
  
"And what is the King of Dreams doing in my Labyrinth? You couldn't have come for the muck." The bird ruffled its feathers, which was as close to a shrug as a person can get.  
  
"I'm something of a servant to King Jareth of the Goblins. I was actually hoping of finding him here since I, er, insulted the Queen. I'm sorry if you took it personally." Michu laughed, nearly falling over in the mood but grabbing a nearby tree root. She was DEFINITELY not happy to be traveling through this part of her Labyrinth.  
  
"Insult HER as much as you can, I don't mind." Michu grumbled. "When I get through this place, I'm going to kill her." Almanac laughed.  
  
"Have you seen Jareth then? Some pixie or other told me of the Queen's wish for him to be sent in here." Michu grabbed another tree root, succeeding in getting a large slab of mud onto her hands and wrists. Wrinkling her nose as she tried to wipe it off on a cleaner root, Michu glanced at the ball of white feathers on her shoulder.  
  
"Yes, I did see him. In fact, I was with him when he was sent into the Labyrinth. I, very cleverly, left him alone with Sarah." Michu shivered. "I really don't want to know what they'll do to each other since they're alone."  
  
"Who is this Sarah? She sounds familiar." Almanac said, momentarily flying off her shoulder as she tipped over and nearly fell. Fortunately, she regained her balance and trudged and grumpily.  
  
"She's my human friend from Aboveground. I'm sure the entire Underground has heard of her victory over Jareth's Labyrinth." Almanac shivered uncomfortably.  
  
"So you left two enemies together, did you? I can't say you weren't wrong in doing so. But why aren't you there with them?" Michu grumbled.  
  
"Because the current Queen has suspended my magic and, if I try teleporting again, I'll probably end up at the Pit of Snakes!" Michu grumbled as she tried to pull herself towards another branch stuck in the mud. Unfortunately, there was a loud grunt and who other than Riggur rose up out of the mud, his whip turning out to be the branch Michu had been grabbing for?  
  
"Love, I think we should get out of here." Almanac whispered into her ear. Michu nodded her head very slowly and, really not caring at the moment where her magic would lead her since it had been tampered with, snapped her fingers. The two of them vanished just as Riggur's whip descended where they'd previously been standing.  
  
When the magic stopped, Michu and Almanac looked around curiously. The place where they stood was absolutely tree-less. It was nothing but little patches of water underfoot, almost like a quilt of ponds. Each pond glowed with a tie-dye of blues, greens, and soft yellows. They were currently standing on one of the edges of the ponds, which was basically a combination of dry coral and seaweed magic. In the distance a group of trees was enough of a landmark to tell Michu that they were close to the Forest of Night and were currently at the Wishing wells of the Kraken. Michu and Almanac's eyes widened when they saw red feathers and yellow fur. Bizarre creatures turned to them and smiled frighteningly.  
  
"We can show you a good time . . . ." They all hissed in unison. Michu, recognizing the beginning of the Firey's satanic (and these looked EXACTLY like the old Fireys) song, turned tail and ran for her life! Almanac glanced at the Fireys and, when they busted into flame, squawked and flew as fast as he could to follow as Michu leapt over little pools.  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Lythandae, Elspethelf, Megan, draegon_fire, Tiffany, General Sephiroth, Pereliniel, terrie, Lady Sorrow, sberger@duo-county.com, JLF, and Jenny! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! Now who could Almanac be? And why is he looking for Jareth? ^.^ Thanks again for your wonderful reviews!  
  
It has come to my attention that there have been many changes of heart during this fic. A lot of you want this to be a J/M fic, but I decided from the beginning that this was going to be a J/S fic. But don't fear Michu lovers! There will be a sequel and, if you vote by way of a review, I shall change the romance. This fic will be a J/S as I promised, but the sequel is up to you so review for your decision! So far, the vote is seventeen *gulps* to two for a J/S fic. Those of you, who want a J/M fic, speak now or forever hold your peace! This vote will continue until the end of this fic! 


	19. The Furious Night Bird Sings

Chapter: The Furious Night Bird Sings  
  
"It's not that way." Sarah turned to glare furiously at Jareth. She was covered in spider webs and grim, her hair a mess of blood and mud. Jareth actually matched her in cleanliness since his usually frost white hair was streaked with mud and some blood. One entire leg of his jeans had been ripped off.  
  
"That's what you said last time!" Sarah said coldly. She was absolutely sick of Labyrinths, especially since she'd had to go through this particular one with a person she had been forcing herself to hate.  
  
Sarah and Jareth had started out fairly well. After about two hours of walking, Jareth had suggested they go to the left since it was a known secret that going to the left usually solved most such mazes. That was when they'd met the Arachnids, giant spiders the size of minivans and with a sweet tooth for flesh. They'd almost eaten Sarah but she and Jareth managed to start a fire (with a lot of trouble) and escape with their necks intact.  
  
After that they had stumbled into the Clouded Meadow where the mud was alive and the Fairies attacked anything wearing something shiny. Sarah was wearing a necklace and Jareth had his shiny little pendant so they had gone running for their lives. Jareth actually looked very undignified when he ran.  
  
After that bit of bad luck, they had come across the Wood Graveyard. It was dark, storm clouds gathering overhead and thunder cracking every few seconds. Lightening monsters and dead trees rose from the ground and attacked them viciously and they had, again, gone running for their lives.  
  
"Look, I just don't think that could be the way, alright?" Jareth said acidly. He was dirty, he was hurt, and he was thoroughly pissed off. This was supposed to be Sarah's birthday, not her death day! He'd wanted to make her happy, not so angry that she looked like she wanted to remove her shoe and start whacking him repeatedly!  
  
"You guys are a sight for sore eyes!" Sarah turned towards the new voice and her face broke into a wide grin as she threw herself at Michu! The two laughed and tried to wipe the grim off of the other's shoulder as they moved back towards Jareth.  
  
"Where exactly were you?" He asked icily. Michu raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged.  
  
"I tried to teleport to the palace. Unfortunately, I had some trouble but I'm here now. I don't really want to talk about what I had to go through." Almanac cawed and came to rest on Michu's shoulder.  
  
"Almanac? What are you doing here?" The bird tilted its head at Jareth and began to laugh.  
  
"I could be asking you the same question! You look . . . stunning Jareth." The last part was definitely sarcastic and all of them began to laugh at a fuming Jareth.  
  
"Shut up." Jareth said with as much dignity as he could muster. The crow shimmered for a moment and then a tall man stood in its place. Almanac was a handsome man (as all Fae were) with black hair and pale white skin. His eyes were a beautiful blue. He wore black jeans identical to Jareth's and a black shirt with a golden crown as the only symbol. Michu felt an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu take over as she starred at him intently.  
  
"Have we met before?" Michu finally asked. Almanac glanced at Michu carefully and then shrugged.  
  
"I don't think we have. Perhaps; but I haven't been to a single ball since the Great War." Michu's eyes glazed over for a moment and she had that look on her face that a person got when they were on the brink of discovering something wonderful.  
  
"I haven't been to a ball since the Great War either." She whispered. Shaking her head to clear it, Michu motioned towards Sarah. "This is my best friend Sarah. She's the one that I was talking to you about earlier. Sarah, this is King Almanac, the monarch of Dreams." Almanac bowed low to Sarah and smiled at her.  
  
"It's nice to meet you." Sarah said politely. "No offense, but can we get moving? We've been here for almost six hours so far." They began to walk through the forest again, their moods sufficiently lifted now that they were with their best friends once more and not just off with an arrogant jerk (ahem, Sarah and Jareth).  
  
As they walked, they began to discuss their kingdoms (Jareth and Almanac did that as Sarah and Michu listened). It seemed that the two Fae kings had known each other since they were fifty years old and had been incredibly close. The Great War put somewhat of an end to their seamless friendship since all of the Fae had to fight in the battle. Sarah became very interested in this Great War, especially because Michu, Jareth, and Almanac seemed to have taken part in it.  
  
"What's this war you guys are talking about?" Sarah asked curiously. The three Fae turned to look at her curiously. "I seem to be the only one that doesn't know what you guys are talking about." She added and each of them showed some sign of comprehension.  
  
"The Great War which we are talking about is the deadliest and most recent of all the Great Wars. A dragon was betrayed by a dwarf, and this event basically sparked the war to begin with." Almanac explained.  
  
"My kingdom sided with the dwarf." Jareth said. "And so did Almanac's kingdom." Michu's eyes narrowed the slightest bit and Sarah noticed that the color drained from her face.  
  
"My kingdom sided with the dragon." She said quietly. "I myself fought in all of the battles as I'm sure they did." Jareth and Almanac nodded, looking slightly uncomfortable around Michu.  
  
"The fighting was terrible." Jareth remarked thoughtfully; he was caught up in remembering what had happened so many centuries ago. "The creatures of light were extremely powerful, especially when led by a young princess. None from our side was quite sure who it was that led them since those who came across her tended to be defeated brutally." Sarah turned to Michu but her face seemed grim with memories.  
  
"I lost my two younger sisters," she whispered faintly, "to the war. My brother died in the final battle." Michu shook her head to rid herself of those memories. Jareth looked away viciously.  
  
"My father and my older brother were lost in the battles as well." He muttered, kicking a stone in the way hard enough to smash into a tree.  
  
"I lost my seven brothers." Almanac said softly, lost in thought. "Funny, I haven't thought about them in several centuries. I keep pushing their memories away." Sarah felt angry for bringing up the subject. True, she had always been curious about Jareth and Michu's families but now she knew why they had never been mentioned.  
  
"My oldest sister went crazy." Michu whispered. This drew immediate attention to her. Fae were not known for going mad, especially because their minds were powerful enough to control their magical kingdoms. "She came across a unicorn baby during the battle. It was captured and murdered in front of her." Michu shook away the memories and her eyes remained stubbornly dry.  
  
"I'm sorry." Sarah whispered. She was suddenly a hundred times happier to know that she had Toby. She also understood why Michu always wanted to spoil her and Toby every chance she could.  
  
"Don't be." Michu said firmly. "Things happen for a reason, even though my brother would have made a wonderful monarch. My sister kept saying that every time I went to visit her. She must be very lonely now that mother never visits her anymore." Shaking her head, Michu continued on silently.  
  
The group refused to speak, all of them immersed in their own thoughts. Almanac kept seeing the smiling faces of each and every brother, every single smile and every single pout. Every single happy memory buried itself onto his guilty heart.  
  
Jareth thought about his royal father and his warm brown eyes. He remembered his brother and how his face would light up when Jareth came towards him. He remembered his mother's crest-fallen and defeated face when the news came that her husband and her son were killed in battle. She had unconsciously leached onto Jareth instantly, supporting him until she died from the heartache. Jareth had never really recovered.  
  
Michu was remembering her wonderful sisters. They would always play with her hair; say she was the most beautiful princess. They would always joke and laugh, dance until the night had yawned tiredly and their brother had twirled them around the dance floor for the hundredth time. She remembered her father slowly wilting away at the news of his son's death and her sister's screams in the night upon returning from battle. She herself remembered the face of every single person she had ever killed.  
  
Sarah was deep in thought, thinking about Toby and wondering about Michu's thoughts. From the look on her face, she was nearing the brink of tears. But Toby, he must have been so scared without them! What would he do if they never returned to him? She would never seen his golden hair, his baby blue eyes, his warm laugh, his soft tears when he fell down and wished for one of them to lift him up. Looking over at Jareth, Sarah felt an overwhelming sense of guilt take over.  
  
She thought about each time she had ever called him a bastard and the look in his eyes when she did. She thought about all of the terrible things she had ever said about him and all of the things she had wished to hurt him with. She had it easy! No wonder he had hated every single time she had said that something wasn't fair! Compared to his life, hers was a fairytale come true!  
  
Michu trailed her fingertips over one of the walls absentmindedly, her thoughts on her youngest sister. She didn't have time to scream when a skeleton arm reached through the wall and dragged her into it! Sarah, however, saw what was happening and grabbed onto her best friend, disappearing alongside her!  
  
The two Fae kings continued walking, not noticing that the girls weren't even there. It was when Almanac had accidentally caught his foot in a tree root and turned to get it out that he noticed something was amiss.  
  
"Jareth! Where are Sarah and Michu?!"  
  
  
  
  
  
The first thing that Sarah noticed was that she felt a little cold. Opening her eyes several times, she looked down in confusion. She wore the same dress she had the first time she had entered the ballroom. The Escher Room stood out vividly in her memory as well as her reflection in a mirror.  
  
The largest difference, however, was that the room was different. In fact, everything was different except for her dress. Beautiful Fae nobles danced around her, most of their ears pointed and some sprouting beautiful butterfly wings. All of them were beautiful people dancing to the music around them as if it were a living thing meant to be swayed with graceful movements.  
  
As Sarah began to walk quietly, she noticed that the people were very happy. They had no worries, no regrets, just as those of the Fae folk were said to have been years ago.  
  
"I've never seen you before." Sarah whirled around to discover a short woman looking at her. Baby blue hair tucked behind pointed ears and a pair of hazel eyes greeted Sarah. She wore a simply blue dress with a lavender ribbon around her waist, amethyst earrings dangling from her ears. What astonished Sarah was that the woman had Michu's face!  
  
"Michu!" Sarah gasped.  
  
"Oh! You must mean my little sister Veneldra! Strange, she doesn't allow many to call her that name. Well, you must be a friend to know it; come." The woman began to lead the startled Sarah towards one side of the dance floor. "My name is Thalia." She added.  
  
"Where am I?" Sarah asked in confusion. Thalia looked at her strangely and then smiled.  
  
"You must have never used a teleportation spell before. That's perfectly all right, my sisters haven't quite gotten it either. You are currently at the Silver Dragon Prince's ball; it's currently his three thousandth and tenth birthday."  
  
"I . . . see." Sarah didn't see, but she wasn't about to announce that she was the only human in a sea of immortal Fae. Thalia continued leading Sarah towards the corner of the ballroom when two girls and a young boy came rushing towards them!  
  
"Michu wants to dance! Can I ask her now? Please?" The boy asked. Thalia laughed.  
  
"I'm sure your big sister would love that! Go on Bellator." The little boy laughed excitedly and rushed off with his two sisters following happily. "Aglaia and Euphrosyne and becoming so grown up." Thalia said with a large smile on her face. "But occasionally they show their age, especially when they want to do something for Michu!" Sarah felt in a daze. That was when it had struck her, just seeing the little blue-haired prince and his pink haired sisters.  
  
They were Michu's siblings.  
  
"Do you know if King Jareth is here yet?" Sarah said on impulse. There was something incredibly bizarre being there among people who were supposedly dead or insane. Thalia laughed, crystal clear and beautiful.  
  
"You mean that arrogant little goblin prince? He hasn't arrived yet. Michu will be meeting him for the first time tonight." Thalia shook her head, still smiling. "He and the little Dream prince are said to be arriving soon with their families. Do you know them?" Sarah nodded faintly.  
  
"Ladies and gentleman!" A booming voice called over the soft murmuring. "Presenting His Majesty, King Landen of the Goblins, Queen Hypolita, and their sons Prince Jareth and Prince Gareth!" Sarah blinked when she saw a younger version of Jareth walking into the party. All three men wore silver poet's shirts and silver tights, each wearing black boots and black leather gloves. The queen wore a silver gown and velvet black gloves as well.  
  
"Ladies and gentleman!" That same voice called out again. "Presenting King Frost of Dreams accompanied by his wife Queen Mistletoe and their eight sons, Prince Rupert, Prince Charles, Prince Almanac, Prince Gregory, Prince Silver, Prince Hawk, Prince Ossifragus, and Prince Turtur!" The voice continued to announce arrivals but Sarah kept her eyes on the two familiar Fae.  
  
About an hour passed in which Thalia forgot to speak to Michu about Sarah and instead told her things such as how the palace was. The Labyrinth wasn't brought up, not even once. Sarah turned her head for a moment from the conversation to see something very interesting. Jareth was starring directly at her and, behind him, was Almanac.  
  
Almanac looked through the crowd and stopped cold when he saw something incredible. He began to move towards it in a sort of trance state in the same way that a moth is drawn to a flame, his black hair reflecting the candle light and his blue eyes intent. Sarah followed his progress and saw two children dancing, both laughing. Sarah realized that the little lavender haired pixie was actually a younger version of her best friend dancing with her brother.  
  
Sarah watched the prince of Dreams dance with Michu gracefully, their movements planned and perfect. She saw the look in their young faces, the absolute fascination they had in the other's eyes. They seemed so happy together, their cares long gone. Sarah pushed through the crowd to get a better look at them.  
  
"May I have the honor of this dance?" Sarah stopped cold and turned towards the familiar but different voice. Jareth smirked at her, his hand extended invitingly. He was probably around nineteen from what Sarah could tell and the arrogance of his future self shined through his young eyes.  
  
"I'd love to." Sarah head herself say, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor. As she danced with him, she realized how comfortable she felt in his arms. She felt as if the Escher Room was replaying itself with a twist. Jareth tilted his head slightly as he studied her for several long minutes. Sarah felt her breathing increase slightly being so close to Jareth again, even a younger version of his actual self.  
  
"I've never seen you before." He commented after a long while of simply swaying to the soft music. Sarah's head snapped up to look at him in surprise as he continued to speak. "Of what House do you reside from? I'm sure I would have recognized you if we'd met before." Sarah starred into his beautiful mismatched eyes for a long time before she tilted her head as well. She mused to herself silently whether she should make up a name or tell him the outright truth. After all, this was Jareth; he wasn't some Fae who she would never come to know.  
  
"I'm a mortal." She said. Jareth laughed at her words, obviously thinking that she was joking. "I'm not kidding, I'm mortal. My name is Sarah Williams. I defeated your Labyrinth." This time Jareth stopped laughing and eyed her carefully.  
  
"My Labyrinth? What do you mean 'my labyrinth'? My brother will be the one to rule it after my father is gone." Sarah bit her lower lip and looked away. She briefly caught Michu's gaze and recognition sparked within their eyes. Just for a moment, Sarah saw the joy crumble inside of her but then it was gone and the illusion continued. Sarah sighed heavily.  
  
"This is an illusion of the Pixie Labyrinth. Poor Michu." She whispered. "I wish I had known." Jareth arched an eyebrow.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Velderia!" Michu and Sarah turned to discover Michu's mother coming towards the dancing couple. Sarah excused herself from Jareth's questioning gaze and followed the two Fae to a dark corner. Sarah's eyes widened when she heard the slap!  
  
"Mother!" Michu whispered in horror, touching her cheek in shock and hurt.  
  
"Enough! A war is coming and you can't be associating with the enemy! His father has already gone against us!" Sarah heard Michu's mother hissed violently. Michu let out a strangled gasp and then Sarah stormed over to the corner to find Michu fainted on the floor, her mother holding a potion under the place her nose had been moments ago.  
  
Sarah rushed forward but it was Jareth who said something as he came storming forward!  
  
"What are you doing to her?!" The Queen of the Pixies took a terrified step back and then threw the potion ball at him! The potion shattered all around him and he fainted to the floor.  
  
"Jareth!" Sarah cried in shock. The last thing he saw was Sarah's terrified face. Sarah whirled to the woman and grabbed her by the shoulders furiously. "You monster! This was all your fault!" The Queen starred at her for a long time before pushing her away angrily.  
  
"She shall NEVER love the Prince of the Goblins!"  
  
Sarah was about to reply but she screamed as the illusion began to turn black and consume her! Placing her hands over her head fearfully, Sarah screamed as loud as she could.  
  
"YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!!" The world fell down around her as she fainted.  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Lythandae, Megan, draegon_fire, terrie, Lady Sorrow, darkfaerie, Casey: Snape's Stalker, and Jenny! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! Hmm, now what could that have been? What was the potion that Michu's mother used? What effect did it have on her daughter and Jareth? Will I EVER stop being so ambiguous? ^.^  
  
It has come to my attention that there have been many changes of heart during this fic. A lot of you want this to be a J/M fic, but I decided from the beginning that this was going to be a J/S fic. But don't fear Michu lovers! There will be a sequel and, if you vote by way of a review, I shall change the romance. This fic will be a J/S as I promised, but the sequel is up to you so review for your decision! So far, the vote is eighteen *gulps* to three (sorry, Megan, but it seems that you and I are just gonna have to suffer) for a J/S fic. Those of you, who want a J/M fic, speak now or forever hold your peace! This vote will continue until the end of this fic! 


	20. Through Dangers Untold

Chapter: Through Dangers Untold  
  
The first thing that Sarah realized was that someone was holding her up. Then she heard a voice begging for her to be all right. Eyes fluttering, Sarah was finally able to open her eyes and find a relieved Jareth smiling down on her. 'He has a nice smile,' Sarah thought to herself distantly. 'Just like at the ball-,' Sarah leapt to her feet and immediately regretted it as she began to sway dangerously.  
  
"Michu! Where is she? What happened?" Jareth came up behind her just as she began to fall and lightly held her up by each elbow.  
  
"Its okay, Sarah, she's right here. Relax, everything's fine." Jareth said. Sarah whipped her head back and forth agitatedly and began to thrash violently, trying to find her friend.  
  
"No! Everything is NOT fine! Where is she? What the Hell was that . . . thing?" Jareth starred at her for a moment before Michu's cold voice filled the clearing they were in.  
  
"That was a Time Wall. It took us into the past for three hours before trying to suck us into it forever." Michu was starring into space, her eyes glazed over in memory. "It was good seeing my brother and sisters again." She whispered.  
  
"Where did it take you?" Jareth asked curiously.  
  
"To the final ball before the Great War." Michu whispered as she ignored the tears rolling down her cheeks. "You and Gareth were there." Jareth stiffened. "And your brothers were also there, Almanac." Almanac didn't bother to react, even if his knuckles turned white.  
  
"What happened?" Almanac whispered after a long silence. Michu stood up suddenly, her eyes burning with fury.  
  
"I'm going to go kill her myself!" Michu said furiously. She grabbed Sarah and pulled her to her feet roughly. "I know a short cut." She grumbled, moving off at a fast pace. Sarah hurried to catch up and grabbed Michu's arm to keep pace with her.  
  
"Michu, do you remember what you told me?" Michu's furious eyes turned unwillingly towards Sarah's pleading ones. "Do you remember what you said about my mother?" Michu continued to glare at her.  
  
"I don't." She said furiously. She tried to shake off her friend but Sarah's grip turned cruel as her nails buried themselves into Michu's arm.  
  
"You said that she wasn't worth it." Sarah said, digging her heels into the ground and forcing Michu to stop. "It's not worth it Michu! I didn't become friends with a murderer!" The last part made Michu snap her arm away from Sarah, her eyes wounded.  
  
"I killed so many people, Sarah." She said. "You don't know how many!" Jareth and Almanac backed away instinctively as the pixie suddenly became livid with fury! "I KILLED PEOPLE! DOES THAT MEAN WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS, SARAH?" Sarah reached out to grab her but Michu was gone, running down a faint path and out of sight before any of them could blink.  
  
"Michu! Please come back!" Sarah cried, making a run to follow Michu. Jareth grabbed her arms and pulled her back onto the path. "Let me go Jareth! I have to get her!" Jareth's grip remained firm.  
  
"Getting yourself lost in this place won't help Michu feel any better. She needs to cool off after reliving those painful memories." Jareth's surprisingly soothing voice told her. Sarah stopped struggling and twisted around to look Jareth in the eyes. He was emotionless.  
  
"Alright." She grumbled, pulling her arms away. "But can one of you please follow her? I'm worried." Almanac touched Sarah's shoulder kindly.  
  
"I'll go." He said. As he transformed into his raven form, nothing remained but a silky white feather. Jareth watched his friend go and then sighed heavily.  
  
"Now it's back to square one." He said rather sarcastically. He bowed and motioned towards the path. "Shall we?" Sarah began to walk down the path, Jareth coming up behind her as they walked.  
  
  
  
  
  
About an hour of silence passed in which no monsters leapt out at them and there was relative silence around them. Sarah was looking back the way they had come when she tripped over a fallen log!  
  
Crying out in shock, Jareth swooped down to catch her. Looking straight into his concerned eyes, Sarah lifted herself up carefully only to wince in pain. Jareth placed her on the floor and prodded her left ankle carefully. He shook his head.  
  
"It's broken." He said. "Damn our luck!" Sarah glared at the floor, hot tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She screamed and hit the ground beside her.  
  
"It's just not FAIR!" She screamed to no one in particular, her hair plastered to her cheeks. When Jareth looked at her in shock at hearing those words again, a strange smile tugged at his features. Soon he was chuckling quietly, trying to suppress his amusement at a flustered Sarah.  
  
Sarah couldn't help the grin which spread across her face or the hysterical laughter which followed it. Soon she and Jareth were laughing so hard, their sides were aching for the energy it took to keep breathing.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sarah." Jareth finally managed to gasp between breaths. Sarah was still smiling, her tears those of mirth now rather than frustration. Sarah waved away his apology and smiled up at him.  
  
"It's alright; things have just been making me angry lately. It's just that this was supposed to be the best birthday!" Jareth and Sarah laughed for a little longer until Jareth took Sarah into his arms and lifted her up.  
  
"You're heavier than you look." He commented as he resumed his trek through the forest. Sarah's eyes narrowed and she looked thirsty for blood.  
  
"That's not the best way to compliment a woman." She growled. Jareth laughed at the look on her face.  
  
"But you're beautiful!" He covered up fairly well, considering the fact that Sarah had wanted to dunk his head into the Bog of Eternal Stench and hold him under for a good minute. Sarah arched an eyebrow, momentarily nervous when Jareth leapt over a log.  
  
"You're not off the hook." She said. Jareth gave her a smile filled with sharp teeth (she ignored it of course).  
  
  
  
  
  
Almanac had been flying for quite some time when he caught sight of a flash of lavender. He landed and changed back into himself quickly. He moved towards the direction he had seen Michu and blinked when he, instead, saw a rather large lake.  
  
Beautiful hot pink flowers blossomed all around it and poplar trees rested long silver leaves against the water's placid surface. All around the lake there were little flashes of light; probably fairies visiting each other in their variously colored flower homes. Almanac moved forward carefully, not knowing where Michu was and not wanting to set anything unpleasant onto him.  
  
"Hello." Almanac whirled around but saw nothing but dense trees behind him. He tried to figure out where the voice had come from but he just couldn't see anything stirring except for the wind. "Over here." Almanac turned to the lake and his eyes widened.  
  
At the shore of the water sat a beautiful naked woman. Her skin was soft lavender and her eyes flashed a beautiful green in the soft sunlight. Stepping closer to her wearily, Almanac peered at his surroundings just in case there was something unpleasant lurking nearby. The woman giggled and lifted a beautiful, slender arm. That was when Almanac noticed the delicate green scales covering her wrists and palms. Her jaw and neck were also covered in rainbow green scales, shimmering against the reflection of light against the water.  
  
"Good day to you." Almanac said politely. He didn't usually converse with mermaids; especially not ones with such long green tails and such alluring green eyes. She motioned for Almanac to join her and he couldn't help but obey her.  
  
Before Almanac could blink, he was sitting down on the sandy shore right beside the beautiful naked mermaid. She was smiling delightedly and took his hand in hers. She put it to her heart and drew his face towards her. The next thing he knew, the mermaid was kissing him passionately, her tongue begging for entrance into his shocked mouth.  
  
"Enough!" A poisoned voice hissed. The mermaid stopped her onslaught and turned to the voice. Michu was standing behind them, her hands balled into clenched fists and her eyes were narrowed into slits. She radiated fury. "I said enough!" She hissed again. The mermaid shook her head violently and put a possessive arm over Almanac's chest as if to say 'I saw him first!'  
  
"Please let go of me." Almanac said as politely as he could. When the mermaid shook her head just as violently as before, Almanac peeled off the scaly arm himself and rose to his feet before she could move. She began to weep violently, no sound coming from her thin form.  
  
"Why are you here; besides choosing to make-out with her?" Michu said with a disgusted glance at the still-weeping creature. Almanac put his hands in his pocket nervously.  
  
"I wasn't planning on meeting her. I thought that she looked like you when I was in my raven form so I came down to get you. Unfortunately she, um, detained me." Michu gave him a disbelieving glare.  
  
"Why did you come to get me, then? If you think I'm going back to Sarah then you've got another thing coming. She said it herself; she doesn't want to be friends with murderers." Almanac blinked and then shook his head.  
  
"The three of us are murderers. If she associates with all of us, then what makes you think she hates you in particular?" Michu arched and eyebrow and turned her back to him furiously.  
  
"I don't care." She muttered. Almanac was about to say something else when another thought came to him. He came up behind Michu carefully.  
  
"This has nothing to do with what she said, does it? There's something else on your mind that's bothering you." Sarah stiffened involuntarily. "What was it that you saw?" Michu didn't move for a long moment before she turned to Almanac carefully.  
  
"I remember going into the Time Wall." She began slowly. "And I thought I would remember that ball. But . . . ." Michu turned away, trying not to show the emotions playing within her painfully.  
  
"You can tell me." Almanac said gently. Michu sighed and turned to him firmly.  
  
"I can't remember it at all."  
  
  
  
  
  
"There it is! The castle!" Sarah said excitedly as she hugged Jareth happily. Jareth didn't complain or even say anything in case Sarah noticed and drew away in disgust. Still, there was a very smug and delighted smile on his face as he made his way towards the castle gates.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Yeah, shorter than the last chapter (sorry). Thank you to Xithemonas, an anonymous reviewer, Rhiannon Faylinn, serenity, Megan, draegon_fire, terrie, Lady Sorrow, and Jenny! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! This fic is coming to a close, and I'm sorry to see it ending so soon. But there are still a few questions we want answered, right? What was the potion that Michu's mother used? What effect did it have on her daughter and Jareth? Will I EVER stop being so ambiguous? ^.^  
  
Okay! The voting has been some what of a landslide but to be *fair* we'll wait for the end of the fic (even though I've already started planning a J/S fic). So far, the vote is twenty-one *gulps* to four (sorry, Megan, but it seems that you and I are just gonna have to suffer) for a J/S fic. Those of you, who want a J/M fic, speak now or forever hold your peace! This vote will continue until the end of this fic! Also, I stupidly began a new Labyrinth fic. Check it out! It's called 'Shattered Dreams'. The sequel to this fic will be starting as soon as this one is over. 


	21. And Hardships Unnumbered

Chapter: And Hardships Unnumbered  
  
"What do you mean you can't remember it? Fae can't forget anything, especially something as memorable as that." Michu blinked.  
  
"Memorable? I just remember dancing with my brother and then . . . my mother saying something. It was so strange. I've always tried to figure out what it was but the War didn't give me a lot of time to dwell on those issues." Almanac raised an eyebrow. "What do YOU remember from the party?"  
  
"I came with my brothers and I remember asking someone to dance with me. I remember a bit of a squabble but no one ever told me what was happening. They just kept repeating the news of the upcoming war." Michu's eyebrows came together worriedly.  
  
"How can that be? I can't remember that!" Michu said worriedly biting her bottom lip. "I would REMEMBER that! But I don't. What's wrong with me?"  
  
"What I want to know is why you got so angry with Sarah. You know she didn't mean what she said." Michu continued biting her lip, not bothering to look up.  
  
"I'm not mad at Sarah." She finally said. "I'm just . . . confused and angry. I can't look at her without thinking about what I've done." She shook her head fiercely. "She doesn't know about how I feel for Jareth. That was where I met him, you know. It was at the ball. What I remember my mother saying to me was that she would never let me love the Goblin Prince ever again. That HAD to have meant something!  
  
"We'll figure it out, don't worry. Let's get back to the others before they start to worry too much." Michu nodded, feeling very warm at Almanac's kind words. Maybe . . . no, she couldn't do that! She loved Jareth! She couldn't think about Almanac that way, it wasn't fair!  
  
  
  
  
  
"Your Majesty, the ambassador of the Dragon Kingdom has arrived." Ritsu M'ani said sulkily. She was one of the pixie advisors that the three friends had seen right before being sent into the Labyrinth.  
  
She was a bit tall for a pixie at five foot ten inches with long green hair, which reached her knees and beautiful pink eyes. Her ears were a little less pointed than those of her companions and she fidgeted in her green uniform nervously. She knew all about the supposedly dead princess of the pixies. The Queen had spread the rumor and it had gone off like wild fire. Everyone mourned over Princess Velderia, especially because of her known gentleness and valor during the Great War.  
  
Ritsu always knew that there was something strange about the Queen's story. She never seemed sad about her daughter's death and she even stopped visiting her only living daughter in order to bury herself in the kingdom's affairs. She pissed off every single kingdom and always seemed on the verge of starting a war with someone. Ritsu just couldn't understand it.  
  
When the princess had appeared once more, Ritsu recognized her at once. She distinctly remembered fighting in the same regiment as the princess. She was a truly courageous warrior who didn't shrink back at the thought of battle as other nobility before her had. She didn't cry at all in front of the other fighters when news came of her siblings and her father's death. It was rare for Fae to do even at war before the Great War, but the princess had held her head high and ignored the need to mourn until the fighting was over and the offending sides were pleased with the destruction that had ensued.  
  
The Queen was quick to threaten all those who had seen the princess and said that if they dared breath a word, she would kill the relatives of the advisors. Ritsu remained quiet but she showed her upset emotions as she performed her usual tasks. What really struck her, however, was the fact that the Queen hadn't even been able to recognize her own daughter. She knew who the Goblin King was, but not her own flesh and blood; her only remaining sane daughter.  
  
"Ritsu, pay attention!" The Queen snapped. Ritsu bowed her head and gritted her teeth quietly.  
  
"Forgive me, Your Majesty." Ritsu said between clenched teeth. The other advisors, (all who were several centuries older than her) knew that this wasn't a smart move. Behaving rebelliously against the Queen was not a smart move is that person wanted to keep their family and their reputation safe.  
  
"If you continue to irritate me so, I shall be forced to suspend you head first into the Marshes of Despair." Ritsu stiffened visibly. That was not a threat to be taken lightly, even if the Queen was slowly loosing control of her Labyrinth. Only the Queen and Michu knew that she no longer had any power over it.  
  
"I don't believe you'll be doing any such thing." The Queen stiffened and Ritsu turned surprised eyes towards the much dirtier Goblin King carrying the human from before. Both of them looked cold, dirty, and pissed off (especially the human).  
  
"How did you get here?" The Queen demanded in a terrified whisper. She tried to edge away from them but she came across a wall. She screamed when she saw two more figures enter the room. The princess was there, dirty but terrifying in her fury. Another was with her; a tall man who could have been none other than the King of Dreams. The Queen had kidnapped him in order to piss of his kingdom for war.  
  
"What's the matter, mother? Scared to see us?" Michu said quietly, coldly, and ruthlessly. Ritsu couldn't help but admire the four glaring people, all of them terrifying in their rage (even the human).  
  
"Velderia . . . my daughter . . . what are you doing? Stop it!" The Queen screamed and then fell to the floor. When she slowly sat up, she gasped in horror. Her skin wasn't the beautiful cream color it had been before but slightly darker. Her features were softened and her ears were perfectly round. She was in a beggar's rags and her once-beautiful hair was now a dirty blond color.  
  
"You are now human." Michu whispered, her eyes cold and fathomless. "You shall live out the remainder of your mortal life as a peasant with no money and no one to love you. If you so much as TRY to wish yourself back to the Underground, than the Furies shall be allowed to deal with you as they see fit." Even Ritsu cringed at the threat of the Furies.  
  
The Furies were terrifying creatures with snake hair, dog's faces, burning red eyes, and enormous claws. They rode on chariots of fire and punished all those who were unjust or sinful. If they were aloud to do with the once-royal woman as they pleased, she would live an eternity in endless suffering.  
  
"No, please Velderia, have mercy on your poor mother! Think about Thalia, she wouldn't want this! Think of your brother, your sisters, your father! They wouldn't want this!" With every word, Michu grew angrier and angrier until she finally stormed over and raised her hand.  
  
To her and everyone else's shock, the human threw herself out of the Goblin King's arms and backhanded the weeping woman to the floor! The once- Queen starred at her in shock, her hand touching the reddening spot where she had been slapped for the first time in her life!  
  
"She's being more than kind to you!" The human snapped viciously. "It's more than you deserve! The world isn't fair, so big deal! Either deal with the consequences of your actions or go hang yourself and save us the trouble!" Everyone starred at her in shock. No human had ever spoken truer words.  
  
"Take her to the Human Realm." The new Queen whispered and the guards gladly took the woman in rags out of the palace, her screams echoing throughout the kingdom even after she had finally been taken away. Ritsu turned to the new Queen and was shocked to find her eyes closed and her body swaying where it stood.  
  
"Michu?" The human said worriedly as she tried to limp towards the Queen.  
  
"I can't . . . I'm sorry." She whispered before she began to fall. The King of Dreams took her into his arms before she hit the ground and starred into her face carefully. His eyes widened when he finally recognized the face he had been longing to see for so long; the woman he had been searching for had been under his nose the entire time!  
  
"Michu?"  
  
  
  
  
  
The castle was in an uproar. The old Queen was gone; sent to the Human Realm, as a punishment for crimes no one had known had been committed in the first place. The new Queen was none other than Princess Velderia, a pixie everyone had thought was long since dead. Advisors from all over the kingdom gathered to see her and all of the nobles who could manage it (and some who couldn't) managed to grab a room in the ever-busying castle.  
  
They didn't know about the human sitting beside the fainted Queen or the King of the Goblins and the King of Dreams pacing outside her door worriedly. She had been unconscious for three days and she hadn't been able to awaken for any of that time, even to eat.  
  
Sarah was really beginning to worry about her. Ritsu, one of the Queen's advisors, was quick to escort the four adventurers to several rooms close to the one that Michu had been placed into. Sarah refused to sleep or eat until Michu woke up (even though Jareth managed to force some food down her throat). Almanac, with his restored magic, was able to clean the group and give them some clean cloths since their old ones were nearly ripped to shreds anyway.  
  
When Sarah waited, Jareth could usually be seen there as well. He always talked to Sarah to get her mind off of worrying about Michu. Sarah discovered that Jareth knew a lot of interesting stories and he knew more about the other realms than she thought he did. Almanac visited only when Sarah accidentally fell asleep, hovering by Michu's bed and starring down at her sleeping face. He always left quietly before running to a dark corner of the palace where no one (not even Jareth) could find him.  
  
Sarah was still extremely worried about her friend until her eyes finally fluttered open. As they did, Sarah smiled warmly at her.  
  
"Are you better?" She asked. Michu blinked again and managed a weak smile.  
  
"I don't know about better but I'm very hungry."  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Yeah, shorter than the last chapter (sorry). Thank you to Xithemonas (sorry, potion is the next chapter, I promise!), an anonymous reviewer (that will be explained in the next chapter), Skyfire, General Sephiroth, saskia, Solea, Megan, Lady Sorrow, and terrie! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! This fic is coming to a close, and I'm sorry to see it ending so soon. But there are still a few questions we want answered, right? What was the potion that Michu's mother used? What effect did it have on her daughter and Jareth? Will I EVER stop being so ambiguous? ^.^  
  
Okay! The voting has been somewhat of a landslide but to be *fair* we'll wait for the end of the fic (even though I've already started planning a J/S fic). So far, the vote is twenty-five *gulps* to four (sorry, Megan, but it seems that you and I are just gonna have to suffer) for a J/S fic. Those of you, who want a J/M fic, speak now or forever hold your peace! This vote will continue until the end of this fic! Also, I stupidly began a new Labyrinth fic. Check it out! It's called 'Shattered Dreams'. The sequel to this fic will be starting as soon as this one is over. 


	22. Wherever You May Be

Chapter: Wherever You May Be  
  
"Michu! Almanac!" Michu laughed as Almanac picked up Toby, who came running towards them. It was winter again and the two were bundled up in brown and black coats and red scarves tied around their necks. Michu threw back her short lavender hair and smiled at Almanac as the two of them began walking around the snowy park with Toby under Almanac's arm.  
  
"So how was school?" Michu asked as she rubbed her gloved hands together to bring them some warmth. Almanac placed his arm around her shoulder nervously and drew her towards him to make her warmer. "Thanks." She said with a warm smile.  
  
"School was really fun! I have this new friend Harry. He's really nice. He likes to read a lot too and he's learning to play the violin." Toby said from under Almanac's strong arm. Michu chuckled as she watched Toby flail around happily in the comfort of knowing no matter how he twisted his body he wouldn't be dropped.  
  
"He sounds like a wonderful person. You aren't going to forget about us when you start having tons of friends, right? I'll always be your favorite, right?" Michu said teasingly. Toby smiled at her upside down and nodded solemnly.  
  
"Of course! You're always first." Michu smiled as Almanac starred straight ahead nervously. The snow was glowing in the bright sun, even if the actual ball of fire wasn't visible in that cold, December morning. Soft flakes of snow drifted down to land in their hair, forming a sort of sparkle around their heads as they walked the cold paths of the park.  
  
"The river must be frozen solid by now. Maybe Sarah and Jareth would like to go ice-skating there later? We haven't done that yet." Another blinding smile from Michu ensured that Almanac blushed and nodded. She didn't notice a thing as Toby squirmed out of Almanac's grasp and ran through the snow towards some distant trees. Michu shivered a little closer to Almanac to get a little more warmth from him.  
  
  
  
After the events in the Pixie Kingdom, Michu assigned several pixies to look over the kingdom as she left to make amends and to relax from the mental strain she had endured for several long years. She wasn't fully prepared to return to her home just yet and she thought it was better for the people to have experienced leaders ruling them rather than a stressed little princess who had been away for years.  
  
Michu had no idea that the potion that had been poured over her was a forgetfulness potion. It didn't erase memories but made them incredibly fuzzy. Certain words or colors stood out vividly but very little else did. Michu still believed that Jareth was the one she had fallen in love with at first glance but Jareth had finally brushed aside the illusions. He knew, even if his memories persisted in being fuzzy, that he had been in love with Sarah all along. The Time Wall really HAD sent the girls into the past for that brief time.  
  
It was Sarah who had suggested that all four of them return to the Human Realm and live there until everything was finally resolved in the Underground. She didn't want to tell anyone the real reason that she wanted everyone to go there, but she did pay a lot closer attention to Michu for reasons that no one but Sarah was aware of. She wanted to get to know her friend again knowing this new side of her. And she wanted to get to know Jareth for the person he really was and not the villain she had forced him to portray.  
  
It was hard for Sarah and Michu to get back into the swing of things back in the Human Realm. Jareth and Almanac had several problems restraining their magic but they eventually began to use their powers wisely and on things they really needed it for (or on special occasions when they were particularly lazy). Selena and Will actually showed up two months after their return.  
  
Selena had come in wearing a green dress that showed off her legs and her arms, a pair of hoop earrings dangling from each earlobe. Will was a handsome man with tanned skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. Seeing him beside Jareth and Almanac, Sarah couldn't help but notice how plain he really looked. They had both looked shamefaced when they saw Sarah and entered the house very quietly.  
  
"Hey Sarah." Will had said upon seeing her. Sarah, Michu, Jareth, and Toby were all sitting at the dinner table eating ice cream while discussing a new idea for Michu's book. Almanac had answered the door (much to Will and Selena's surprise) and returned to his seat as the two stood before Sarah like two children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.  
  
"Hi." Sarah said pleasantly. Jareth and Almanac exchanged glances before turning to Michu for answers. She raised an eyebrow but waited to see what they were doing here. Will had looked anywhere but at Sarah, even going so far as kneeling by Toby.  
  
"Hey there Toby. How have you been?" Will did a quick magic trick but Toby blinked after watching it. He glanced at Jareth, Almanac, and Michu with confusion in his eyes.  
  
"That wasn't magic." He said in somewhat of a pout. He pointed to Jareth and giggled. "You should see HIM do magic! He has these cool crystals that make funny things happen!" Will glanced at Jareth suspiciously and then at Sarah with the look of a wounded animal. He got to his feet and slowly looked at the floor. Selena cleared her throat and smiled her usual sunshine smile.  
  
"So how have things been going, Michu? Is that guy your boyfriend?" Almanac and Michu blushed.  
  
"No, we're just good friends!" Almanac said hurriedly. He glanced out of the corner of his eyes and saw something like disappointment in Michu's face before she masked it as usual. Instead, she placed a heart-warming smile onto her face.  
  
"We've known each other since we were kids. To make a long story incredibly short, we caught up a few months ago and now they're living with us. It's a nice arrangement since the three of us know some very interesting magic tricks. Toby just doesn't seem to like any other kinds of magic tricks." Will seemed only slightly more relieved.  
  
"My name is Almanac Morpheus, pleased to meet you." Almanac said, getting up and shaking their hands just the way that Michu and Sarah had taught him was polite. He smiled brightly as he sat down and Selena actually blushed.  
  
"I'm Jareth Koblin, an old friend of Sarah and Michu." Will shook his hand rather hard but was disappointed to discover that Jareth's tough exterior matched his even colder interior. Something about this set off warning signals in his mind but he ignored them and smiled cheerfully.  
  
"What can I do for you?" Sarah asked curiously. Will again looked down at the floor and then, surprisingly, looked towards Michu. He starred at her hard for a long time before he finally looked at Sarah rather bashfully.  
  
"I have something to tell you. I've been seeing someone else." Sarah's eyes widened slightly but she couldn't say that she was anything but surprised. It had never occurred to her that Will would cheat on her with someone else.  
  
"With who?" She asked. Selena blushed and actually tried to hide herself more or less behind Will.  
  
"I see." Michu said quietly. She drank down some tea and then looked Selena straight in the face. "You always did like to talk about him as much as you could without seeming interested. I'm surprised it took you this long to come out and say it."  
  
"You knew then?" Sarah asked curiously. She was by no means angry but more astonished that everyone had been keeping this from her for what sounded like a very long time. "Why didn't you tell me about it?" Almanac and Jareth knew better than to trespass on business that was not their own so they simply sat back and drank their tea quietly.  
  
"You were angry at me by the time I figured it out." Michu said calmly. "And then all of THAT happened and I never got around to telling you about it. As a matter of fact, I didn't remember until they came in." Toby glanced between all of them and then tilted his head slightly.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that Will." Sarah said patiently, her voice sincere and her brows creasing. "I've been . . . well, not unfaithful but I've been uninterested in you for some time. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner but I didn't want to upset you." Will and Selena blinked, obviously expecting the worst. A Sarah tantrum included tears, screaming, cursing, and a lot of unpleasant name-calling. Sarah was actually behaving civilly when she should have been furious at the idea that her boyfriend had been cheating on her.  
  
"I . . . guess that's it." Will said, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess we'll be going." Sarah stood up and held out her hand for them to wait.  
  
"You don't have to leave right away. Come stay with us for a little while. We still have some breakfast left and we'd love the company." Will and Selena exchanged suspicious glances (probably wondering if the food was poisoned) and then smiled weakly as they sat down.  
  
  
  
Michu snapped out of her stupor and noticed that Toby was motioning for them to come over. Smiling, Michu drew away from Almanac and proceeded to play a game of tag with Toby. She would throw up snow or even cause a tiny whirlwind with her magic in order to slow him down and catch him. That or she would make a spectacular show of rainbows and snow to distract him long enough to get away. Almanac watched this with a strange smile on his face.  
  
Ever since he remembered Michu, he had slowly discovered the feelings he'd had so long ago. When she was in a room, he found himself either smiling or growing extremely nervous. Her smile made him want to melt and her magic was wonderful to feel and watch. She had such a love for simple things such as a boy's unconditional love, a best friend's trust, beautiful flowers that she enchanted so that they wouldn't become frost-bitten, and in the quiet sanctuary of books. He couldn't help but want a place in her heart.  
  
"Toby! Michu! Almanac!" All three turned to see Sarah and Jareth coming towards them. Both were in large coats with red scarves over their necks. The scarves were actually a present from Linda. She had been trying to make amends, seeming to have realized the vast mistakes she had made. Sarah and Michu only wore them as a remembrance of their friendship and refused to speak to Linda again.  
  
Some people deserved second chances, but no one deserved an accepted apology after nearly destroying someone else's life.  
  
Michu ran toward Sarah and hugged her happily. The snow slipped from their hair and touched their numb faces. Both shivered and laughed as Jareth came up behind them. Jareth looked at Almanac with a twinkle in his eyes and smirked.  
  
/Are you going to ask her?/ the thought came to him in an instant and Almanac smiled as he felt Jareth's presence at the edge of his mind. It had been a long time since they had spoken mind-to-mind. It was a piece of their old friendship returned.  
  
/I'll ask her soon./ He promised. /Soon; but not now. She's so happy. I don't want to upset her./ Jareth smiled and nodded. Both had to agree that this was by far the best years in their lives. The only time that compared to this was when their siblings had still been alive.  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to Wyltk, JLF, Lady Sorrow, Silver Space, Jenny, and Megan! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! This fic is coming to a close, and I'm sorry to see it ending so soon. I don't think you guys are going to like the way I end this fic (that's a hint!) and I hope no one comes and tries to murder me in my sleep or something *winces*.  
  
There is no point in voting anymore. The sequel will be a *drum roll* Jareth/Michu fic! *readers throw pointy objects and boo angrily* Okay! Okay! Sheesh! No, the sequel will be a Michu/Almanac and Sarah/Jareth fic. I was actually planning (earlier) to get Sarah and Almanac together but I see this is a lot cooler. ^.^ It will be called 'Labyrinth of the Heart' and I expect ALL of you there! Hehe ^.^  
  
Also, I stupidly began a new Labyrinth fic. Check it out! It's called 'Shattered Dreams'. The sequel to this fic will be starting as soon as this one is over (which is now THREE CHAPTERS! I'm sad to see it ending so quickly!). 


	23. My Heart Will Always Belong to Thee

Chapter: My Heart Will Always Belong to Thee  
  
Toby Williams was probably the happiest kid on the Earth as he walked waited impatiently for his school to end. His eyes were bright and he hummed almost inaudibly under his breath as he doodled on some paper, his head resting against his palm. The teacher glanced at him with a mixture of curiosity and displeasure. As much as she loved to see her students happy, Toby was simply always happy now. It just wasn't right.  
  
The first time she had seen him, she had instantly felt some kind of jealousy at meeting his guardians. The first woman was tall with beautiful brown hair and soulful green eyes. She claimed to be Toby's older sister but the teacher couldn't really see a resemblance in either of them since he was a child of the day while she was a daughter of the night. Ms. William's companion had been short with lavender colored hair and soul- piercing blue eyes. Her every move spoke of mystery and a race long-since thought gone. Her presence whispered of fairytales and magic.  
  
Toby was always happy to talk about them and how wonderful they were to him. Whenever someone asked him about his parents, he would easily brush it off and move on to the next thought without any sort of emotion or pain. If he had been beaten or badly treated, he certainly knew how to hide it well.  
  
Toby was also picked on a lot by bullies because of his cheerful nature and his steadily growing aura. He just screamed magic now in everything that he did. His luck was astonishing and a lot of the other kids liked him because of the life line connecting them to their disappearing childhood. If they could, they would have allowed Toby to take them wherever he had come from since he was clearly not of this world.  
  
When the class was finally over, the teacher watched as Toby grabbed his things and bolted for the door. She also saw several boys nodding to each other and following him while cracking their knuckles expertly. The teacher knew what was coming, but something in her made her turn back to the stack of papers she had to grade. She just didn't want to get involved in this.  
  
Once Toby was outside, he breathed in a great breath of relief. Spring was a wonderful season full of wonderful smells and feelings. The trees were only just waking from their routine frosty slumber and baby green buds were sprouting all around him like the magic tricks he saw Michu doing.  
  
Toby didn't see the boys coming up behind him since he was looking down the street expectantly. He knew that one of his four favorite people in the world would be picking him up soon and he didn't want to miss them for a minute. He didn't see a boy behind him smirk at his pals and lift his leg backwards.  
  
Toby yelped in pain when she felt a hard foot kick him in the back and send him sprawling into the street! The boys laughed and came towards him expectantly. Two kicked Toby as they walked and another picked up a stick, checking the weight in his hands.  
  
"Jareth." Toby said painfully. He closed his eyes, waiting for the next hit but it never came. When he finally risked a peek, he discovered the four boys floating in midair, their faces filled with terror. Toby looked up to discover Jareth standing behind him, eyes glowing with fury and his lips a cruel thin line.  
  
Michu knelt down beside him and helped him to sit up. When he winced in pain, she shook her head and glared up at those who DARED to touch HER human! With a daft flick of her wrist, the boys disappeared. Toby was curious to know where they had gone and he probably would have laughed if Michu had told him that they would be sent to her Labyrinth for five hours before being released. Unfortunately, he began to whimper when Jareth came over and picked him up.  
  
"He was supposed to be protected when he was out of our care!" Jareth grumbled, his teeth gnashing against each other in fury. Michu nodded once and then began to walk into the school with a determined and powerful step. Jareth followed with a wonderfully concealed anger.  
  
Once inside the colorful classroom, several kids glanced up from their crowded desks to watch as two seemingly otherworldly adults stormed through the classroom with one of their own students. Toby waved to some of his friends meekly as he couldn't help but wince from the pain. He automatically knew that something had to be broken from the way his wrist pained him no matter how he moved it.  
  
The teacher glanced up and blinked several times as Michu finally came to stop right in front of her desk. After the two monarchs starred coldly down at her, she cringed away from their icy scowls. They gave her plenty of time to see the marks on Toby's body and she immediately cursed herself for not having stopped the fight that had been coming.  
  
"When Sarah and Michu left Toby in your custody, we ASSUMED that you would be capable of protecting him. Instead, Michu and I arrive only to find a group of your students kicking him. I wonder what moronic idiot could have been so devoid of intelligence as to give you your job." Jareth said coldly. The teacher tried to sink another inch into her chair.  
  
"D-did something happen to him?" She tried very quietly. She knew she was caught and she knew that the warning bells screaming in her mind didn't mean that she was in trouble.  
  
She was in danger.  
  
Michu and Jareth didn't have the look on their faces that someone does when they plan to be kind to another person. Something like violence was fighting against their cool exteriors, and maybe even murder. If she hadn't been so frightened of them noticing the movement, she would have tried to call the police.  
  
"Toby has a broken wrist." Michu said quietly. "And I don't believe I shall go into the trauma of being attacked from behind. That WAS what happened, am I right Toby?" Toby nodded and rubbed the place where his wrist hurt the most. "What are we supposed to do now that we know you are a danger to our Toby?" The teacher, again, tried to sink deeper within her the confined of her chair.  
  
She was terrified of both and she couldn't really choose which one of the two were the most frightening: the tall and imposing man standing like a dark angel or the fuming woman whose eyes were boring into her soul. She felt as if both of them were looking straight into her soul and picking out every single bad thing she had ever done.  
  
"I-I don't know." She whispered. Michu and Jareth lifted a single eyebrow at the same time. Seeing this made the teacher's spine crawl. She rummaged in her desk as quietly as she dared, trying to find some kind of weapon in case one of them lost control and tried to kill her.  
  
"I just want to go home." Toby whispered. His voice cracked in the middle of his sentence but he made sure not to cry. He wouldn't cry in front of his teacher or the other students. He could wait until someone made his wrist better before doing that and in order for that to happen; Michu and Jareth had to take him home.  
  
The teacher looked relieved at his request. Michu and Jareth spent a long moment glaring at her before storming out the door and outside into the fresh air. Michu sighed deeply and looked back at Toby to check on his wrist. Sighing again, she nodded to Jareth and he vanished swiftly.  
  
It was best that he went home quickly in order to heal him. Almanac was a wonderful healer but he tended to do a better and faster job when he was alone or with only one person. Michu looked at the trees in wonder and began to walk home. Maybe a walk would soothe her mood.  
  
  
  
  
  
Sarah was cooking after she returned from the grocery store. She knew that magic could do most of the things that she did but it was rather relaxing knowing the she could do things the ordinary way instead of HAVING to do them. She was making pasta, the water boiling and steam clouding around her. She looked rather cute in a white apron and a lime colored dress.  
  
Almanac was sitting at the table reading a book. It seemed like any ordinary book except that Almanac would take out a pen and write something down every once in a while. Also, he never seemed to be turning the page but rather staying right in the middle.  
  
This was the system of communication between the Human Realm and his kingdom. He was a very powerful and important king so he had to speak with his ministers so that they knew what he wanted done as he stayed in the Human Realm. He was sort of on holiday but he had no idea when he would be going back to his home or if he would ever want to go home.  
  
The human realm wasn't much but it was home. No matter where he was, Almanac was always happy to be with Jareth, Michu, Sarah, and Toby. At first he and Jareth had had some trouble getting back to being as good friends as they had been earlier in their childhood. After some time of getting to know each other again, the two were like brothers. Usually they could never be separated but Jareth and Michu had won the coin toss to pick up Toby.  
  
That was another thing that Almanac was rather surprised about. At first Toby was rather suspicious and wasn't sure if he wanted to be friends with the new man. After finding out that Jareth and Michu were good friends of his, Toby opened up considerably and became like Almanac's little brother. He would always get him gifts and little things that Toby would treat like gold no matter what they were. Toby loved to spend time with him and listen to the stories he told.  
  
Toby's love for stories had begun with his older sister telling him about the Labyrinth and also other stories. Meeting Michu had increased his love for them but Jareth and Almanac made him crave them all the time. There were very few human stories that he didn't know and he soon lost interest in those since the stories from the Underground were seeped in mystery, magic, and also Fae history. Toby especially loved to hear about old Fae.  
  
Almanac's relationship with Sarah became better as well. She was a charming person (which surprised him because he had been raised to think that all mortals were boring) and he loved the way she was a wonderful story-teller. He always teased Jareth that Sarah was more than a match for him in a battle of wills since they usually had petty arguments in which Sarah usually left as the smug victor. Almanac could truly say that Sarah was one of his closest friends.  
  
As for Michu, he was falling in love with her more and more each day. He would sometimes panic in the morning and rush down the stairs in nothing but sweat pants in order to find Michu sitting at the table drinking coffee and laughing with Sarah and Toby. She would always look at him strangely when this occurred and then she would smile with a strange blush on her cheeks. She would invite him for coffee even in his half-naked state.  
  
When this happened, Almanac wanted to melt there and then. He wanted to fall on his knees and tell her that he loved her more than was healthy and he wanted her to be his forever. He wanted to kiss her, make love to her, and do anything in his power and more to make her as happy as she made him. His love hurt his heart and made him ache for her.  
  
Still, she didn't show any signs of being more than a friend to him. This always disappointed him but he made sure not to show it to her. Instead, he just wished that she would see past the illusions and discover what he really wanted. If only she would see him and only him.  
  
Something in the back of his mind bitterly reminded him that her heart still belonged to Jareth. She didn't know about the potion and neither did Almanac. The only one who knew about it was Sarah and she still wasn't entirely sure what it had been. The friends were extremely good friends, the best in any of the worlds. Their love lives, however, were an entirely different story.  
  
Needless to say, Sarah and Almanac were extremely upset when Jareth materialized out of thin air with Toby in his arms. The little golden haired boy was favoring his wrist and he was covered in cuts and bruises.  
  
"It's best to ask questions later." Jareth said before Sarah could voice her opinion. No one but Almanac wondered if Michu was alright.  
  
None of them, however, stopped to wonder if Michu was thinking to herself that she had to tell Jareth how she had felt for him all of those years ago. They didn't know the heart ache that was going to befall all of them; even Toby. They didn't know and it was their ignorance that made the entire ordeal all the more terrible.  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to draegon_fire, General Sephiroth, terrie, JLF, Silver Space, and Jenny! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! Well, I have to warn you guys that you're going to hate the next chapter. I hope no one comes and tries to murder me in my sleep or something *winces*.  
  
I wanted to say that this chapter was a sort of transitional chapter to the next one (which will have some highly NEGATIVE stuff so that you are forewarned). On a lighter note, the sequel will be a Michu/Almanac and Sarah/Jareth (definitely romance) fic called 'Labyrinth of the Heart' and I expect ALL of you there! Hehe ^.^  
  
Also, I stupidly began a new Labyrinth fic. Check it out! It's called 'Shattered Dreams'. The sequel to this fic will be starting as soon as this one is over (which is now TWO CHAPTERS! I'm sad to see it ending so quickly!). 


	24. Love Me Forever and Never

Chapter: Love Me Forever and Never  
  
Sarah was breathing hard, her eyes clenched tightly and her entire body heaving. She threw back her head and screamed in utter pain and effort. She felt as if she was being ripped open from the inside! Then she felt release and she laid back, the pain slowly residing from whence it came. When she opened her eyes, she smiled up at the elf midwife who smiled as she handed over the child.  
  
"Congratulations, Your Majesty. It's a boy." She said as she very softly patted the sweating woman on the head before moving towards the door. Sarah looked down on her son and couldn't help but be in awe at him. Two mismatched eyes of vibrant electric blue and calm hunter green starred up at her curiously.  
  
Jareth was pacing the hallway outside her door and was about to have a heart attack. Why was this TAKING so long! Couldn't the elf do something to hurry it up? Sarah had been in labor for three days! He'd heard screams on and off and he didn't think he could stand it if she started screaming again. He whirled around when the door was open and the elf woman smiled.  
  
"She's a strong one. Not many humans could have survived what she went through." Jareth barely heard her as he rushed into the room and sighed in relief to find Sarah waiting for him. He walked forward and peered down at the baby starring up at him curiously.  
  
"He's beautiful, Sarah." Jareth breathed as he starred down at his son. HIS son! The words sounded so strange and so wonderful at the same time. It warmed his heart even more to know that the boy's mother was none other than his wonderful Sarah. She smiled and held him up carefully for Jareth to hold.  
  
"His name will be Leo." Sarah said. Jareth looked from her to the child and smiled faintly. He had been thinking of another name but Leo would do just fine. He placed the child gently on his wife and kissed her forehead gently before sitting beside her frail body. Sarah closed her eyes and the smile slowly disappeared.  
  
"What's the matter, love?" Jareth asked worriedly as he took her hand. Sarah had been having major mood swings lately and that had nearly been the death of poor Jareth. He couldn't help asking even if he dreaded a sharp remark from her or even tears now that she was so emotionally wired.  
  
"I just wish that Almanac and Michu had been here. I would have really appreciated my best friend here for this; and I wish my brother had been here too." Tears began to escape through Sarah's thick lashes and Jareth was quick to touch her face for comfort.  
  
Jareth closed his eyes and could distinctly remember what happened that day that their perfect lives had suddenly come crashing down around them.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Jareth, what happened to him? Why is he hurt?" Jareth placed Toby down on the couch and motioned for Almanac to come closer and heal the whimpering boy. Jareth explained what had happened with measured fury and tense muscles. Sarah listened with horror at what had been happening to her brother while she hadn't been around to protect him.  
  
"Where's Michu?" Almanac asked from the couch. Jareth glanced at his best friend and glanced out the window thoughtfully.  
  
"She was feeling rather upset so she decided to walk back to work off some stress." Jareth explained. "She was very upset at what happened to Toby, especially because we were about a minute late. She had wanted to talk to me about something and that was when we heard the fighting and we came running. She sent those boys into her Labyrinth and I doubt she's remembered to send them back home."  
  
Sarah came to stand over her little brother and comforted him as best she could while Almanac healed him. Jareth lead Sarah out of the room so that his friend could work in peace and took her up to Sarah's room.  
  
When Jareth and Almanac moved in with them, Sarah and Michu decided to share a room so that everyone could fit. Jareth and Almanac got Sarah's old room and their was basically an unwritten law that the girls got the bathroom down the hall in the morning and late at night while the boys had to find a way to get there before or afterwards. They learnt this the hard way of course.  
  
When Jareth and Sarah were alone in her and Michu's room, they looked back at the door worriedly wondering if Toby would be alright.  
  
"Toby didn't do anything to those boys. Why would they hurt him when he was just waiting for you and Michu? I hate bullies." Jareth's eyebrows came together in worry and he shook his head.  
  
"Don't worry, everything will be fine now. Almanac is an expert healer and he'll have Toby back to his old self in no time. We'll have to send him to another school; I don't want that woman in charge of his safety anymore." Sarah nodded and wiped her eyes in utter frustration. She had thought that Toby would be safe! How could this have happened?  
  
"Don't cry, Sarah." Jareth whispered as he leapt forward to comfort her. Rubbing her shoulders and looking down at her with concern, he didn't notice that there was someone at the door.  
  
Sarah looked up from her silent crying and sucked in a sharp breath. Jareth was incredibly close to her, so much so that his body heat was coming off in waves against her trembling skin. He still had his hand on her shoulder and his eyes were slowly darkening with something like passion. Very slowly, Sarah felt herself drifting forward to meet him.  
  
He touched her cheek and tilted his head as their lips met softly. Jareth couldn't believe that he was finally kissing Sarah (the REAL Sarah!) and he couldn't believe that she was kissing him back. His eyes gently closed and he pulled her closer as her arms slid up around his neck securely.  
  
Michu stood paralyzed at the door, her eyes wide at what she saw inside. Her entire body was in too much shock to even tremble and her heart was pounding a mile a minute as she starred at Jareth and Sarah kissing each other so passionately.  
  
After walking for about an hour in no direction, Michu had discovered that she was utterly lost. Instead of wasting her time trying to find the house, she snapped her fingers and appeared just outside of her room. She was still chilled from what had happened to Toby and she wanted to take a shower to get rid of the horrible feel she was carrying around with her. She was going to her room so as not to bother everyone (she assumed they were all downstairs) and she just wanted to grab some fresh cloths and a towel.  
  
Instead, she'd found Sarah and Jareth leaning towards each other and then . . . they kissed. Her eyes wouldn't stop starring even though her mind and her heart were screaming for them to stop. They finally did and Michu finally felt herself start to shake violently.  
  
"Sarah, I . . . want to ask you something." Jareth whispered as he buried his face into Sarah's soft neck. She breathed in his wonderful smell and made a sound that she was listening. Jareth pulled away from her and got down on one knee. Again Michu felt herself tense up and her heart stop when she realized what was coming.  
  
'No! Please don't Jareth! Please! I'm begging you!' Her mind repeated over and over as she watched him take out a velvet box from his pocket and hold it up for Sarah to see. She saw the look of astonishment and joy cross her face when she saw what it was.  
  
"Will you marry me Sarah?" Michu felt herself crumble to the floor. Sarah and Jareth jumped and turned to the door. What they heard was several loud thumps and then a pair of feet rushing down the stairs.  
  
Sarah and Jareth hurried down the stairs to discover Michu rushing around in a panic, her eyes and fingers darting from place to place. Almanac watched her in confusion but Toby was asleep from the healing magic. Michu turned and a vase went crashing to the floor because of her outstretched hand. Cursing but ignoring the broken china, she hurried into the kitchen and then returned just in time to find Sarah and Jareth watching her.  
  
When she saw them, Michu froze like a doe caught in the headlights. After a moment of terrified starring, she managed to turn away and rush towards the front door.  
  
"Michu? Are you alright?" Sarah called out in worry when she saw the strange way her best friend was behaving. Michu froze once more and turned to Sarah. After a moment of intense will power, Michu managed to plaster a smile on her face.  
  
"Everything's fine. I just have to go for a while. Please tell Toby that I'm sorry for leaving without saying goodbye." She again headed for the door but Jareth was barring her way. Michu took several frightened steps away from him.  
  
"Why are you leaving?" He asked quietly. Michu just starred at him and then Jareth sighed. "I've asked Sarah to marry me." Almanac visibly stiffened and he rose to his feet to get to Michu. He knew now what was going on even if the other two didn't know. "Sarah undoubtedly wanted to ask you if you would be the Maid of Honor. If you leave, you'd miss the wedding." Michu was fighting with her emotions but managed to keep a light and cheerful smile on her face.  
  
"I'm afraid I won't be able to attend the wedding, my most sincere apologies. I . . . hope that you'll be happy, Sarah. You really deserve it." With a final nod, Michu was pushing past Jareth and was out the door. Almanac hurried to catch her but when he opened the door she was gone. Starring at the nothingness that he found, Almanac felt something inside of him snap.  
  
Whirling around, Almanac hurried up to Michu's room and discovered that all of her things were gone. Running down the stairs, Almanac was breathing hard.  
  
"She's gone!" He yelled angrily. Sarah and Jareth blinked in surprise.  
  
"She said that she had to do something. I'm sure she'll be back soon." Sarah said. Almanac shook his head furiously and banged his fist against a table.  
  
"I mean she's REALLY gone! She's completely gone! Her things are gone and there isn't a sign of her anywhere!" Almanac screamed and vanished in a shower of hot sparks. Sarah's mouth opened in horror and she looked at Jareth in shock.  
  
"Why would she just leave?" She demanded in fright. Jareth's eyes widened in shock.  
  
"SHE was the one who was upstairs! She saw me propose to you!" Sarah tilted her head in confusion.  
  
"Why would that upset her so much?" Jareth glanced at Sarah and felt (and not for the first time) that her naivety would be the death of her one day. Instead, Jareth sighed deeply.  
  
"She's in love with me." Sarah's eyes widened in horror at the words and the thoughts that exploded into her mind. She remembered every single time that Michu had looked at Jareth longingly and every time she stepped away from Almanac when she thought she was being unfair with his feelings for her. She thought of every time she would smile distractedly after Jareth had been in the room or how she would become incredibly nervous when he came down the stairs for breakfast (Almanac wasn't the only one who came to eat in nothing but his sweatpants).  
  
"Since when?"  
  
"Since the ball before the Great War." Sarah's eyes widened even more and she grabbed her head in bitter understanding.  
  
"That potion! It made her forget who she REALLY fell in love with! It wasn't you; it was Almanac! It must have been a love potion! Her mother didn't want them to fall in love so she made Michu forget the whole night! Oh my God, I can't believe I didn't realize it before! It all makes perfect sense!  
  
Jareth starred at Sarah for a long time and a very bitter voice whispered into his mind something that he wished had never occurred to him. 'Too little too late Sarah. Just like before with your brother.'  
  
  
  
After that, Almanac returned to his kingdom and had been in a severe state of depression ever since. No one could find Michu and soon Sarah couldn't show her face Aboveground. She and Jareth would be in serious trouble if they were found anywhere but the Underground and that was all Michu's doing. Instead, the two went to Jareth's kingdom and had made a life for themselves there and they were soon very happy together again.  
  
"I wish she was still here." Sarah whispered, jolting Jareth out of his thoughts. "She should have stayed and we could have explained. But now we can't because of . . . what happened." Jareth sighed and looked down on his son. It was true. If Michu had still been there, she would have gotten to see her godson at his birth as she had been destined to. But now she couldn't; not where she had put herself in.  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to draegon_fire *you sure you're happy now?*, ShopGirl42, DJinn *my first death threat!*, General Sephiroth, terrie, JLF, Silver Space *still confused? I hope you are for the last part*, and Jenny *did that help with the potion question?*! ^.^ You guys are the best reviewers! I hope no one comes and tries to murder me in my sleep or something *winces*.  
  
There is one more question to be answered and you'll find out the answer in the next and final chapter (that question is: what the heck were Sarah and Jareth talking about and why can't they show their faces Aboveground?). On a lighter note, the sequel will be a Michu/Almanac and Sarah/Jareth (definitely romance) fic called 'Labyrinth of the Heart' and I expect ALL of you there! Hehe ^.^ I will make it really happy in the end, I promise you. Just don't slit my throat!  
  
Also, I stupidly began a new Labyrinth fic. Check it out! It's called 'Shattered Dreams'. The sequel to this fic will be starting as soon as this one is over (which is now ONE CHAPTER! I'm sad to see it ending so quickly!). 


	25. Eternity

Chapter: Eternity  
  
Jake Chandler walked easily through the corridors of the state prison. He ignored the curses or pleas from those rough-looking women sitting in the cells on either side of him. One woman threw something at him that looked suspiciously like a tray but he easily avoided the onslaught and satisfied himself by making a mental note to get rid of her appeal for parole.  
  
Jake was a handsome and rather young detective with sandy brown hair and hard gray eyes. He was wearing a black suit with a plain red tie. He didn't show his inward uneasiness as being literally locked in with a building filled with murderers. Several of the women looked entirely innocent and pleaded for him to help them but he didn't as much as glance their way.  
  
Those women tended to be the worst of all because of their need to trick other people into doing what they wanted. Jake continued walking swiftly towards his destination and held up his VIP to the guard in order to go through a pair of iron doors. He ignored the threatening or seductive looks the next row of women sent him, several cursing fiercely as they rattled the bars of their cages.  
  
"I see you could make it." Jake turned towards the voice and smiled faintly when he saw his friend from work. Christian Marilando smirked at the two inch taller man and walked in step with him. Chris was a dark haired and dark skinned man with dancing black eyes. He also wore a black suit and a plain blue tie. He ignored the louder curses from the women.  
  
"So who's this new prisoner that everyone seems so worked up about?" Chris shivered involuntarily and passed over a file filled with papers. Jake opened the files and closed them, his face draining of color for a moment. The two of them stopped and turned to a quiet room. Chris locked it behind them and sat down on the desk at the far side. Jake took a chair and fell into it, his eyes wide as he opened the file again more carefully. He was still shocked at what he found inside.  
  
"Oh my God." He whispered. A mangled and utterly massacred body was looking back at him. He quickly turned to the next photo and swallowed hard. The girl's eyes were wide open and starring dead back at him. They were hunter green eyes with tears of blood leaking from the corners of each eye and even more blood dribbled from the woman's opened mouth.  
  
He turned to the next photo and felt like throwing up. Her arms had been ripped off and this new picture was that of her shoulders and what remained of the bone before it was wrenched out. Blood was still trickling from the wounds from what he could tell.  
  
Turning to the next photo fearfully, he dropped the photos and rushed for the waste basket in the room. He got there just in time to throw up all of his light lunch. After a few strained minutes of this, Jake wiped his mouth and returned to his seat. He closed the file and looked at Chris.  
  
The older man was looking at him emotionlessly. His arms were crossed over his chest and he didn't show any signs of wanting to look anywhere but into Jake's disgusted eyes.  
  
"What the Hell is this?" Jake demanded quietly. He could still taste the vomit on his tongue and the thought of the pictures in his lap made him want to start throwing up all over again (even though there was nothing left in his stomach).  
  
"THAT is what our guys found with the accused. She didn't fight arrest and she didn't bother to ask for an appeal. All she refused to get was the death penalty. She's staying here for life after some serious fighting on behalf of the courts." Jake's face twisted with disgust as he tossed the file onto the desk.  
  
"She deserved death for that!" He hissed angrily. "Why did she kill her?" Chris shrugged but reached into his pocket for a cigarette. Jake watched him take a long drag before he voiced an itching question.  
  
"I thought you quit." He said.  
  
"I did until I saw this case." Chris said offhandedly.  
  
"It's bad for you." Jake said with a raised eyebrow. Chris shrugged again and motioned towards the case file on the desk beside him.  
  
"If it means less nights of dreaming about THAT then all the better." Jake momentarily wondered if he should have taken up smoking but then he shook the thought from his mind. This was no time to be thinking about that.  
  
"Why did she kill her?" Chris took a long drag from his cigarette before he spoke.  
  
"From what we saw, they were the best of friends. The dead girl's younger brother was in the house but he didn't seem to believe us when we told him. He kept saying that she wouldn't do that to his sister." Jake couldn't blame the kid for thinking like that.  
  
"How old is he?"  
  
"Twelve." Chris said as he looked down at some of the papers in the file (after moving the pictures out of their vision). "His parents took him in but he seemed pretty upset. He kept getting mad every time someone told him what happened and kept asking for Jareth and Almanac. Yeah, that's right." He added when he looked over the paper.  
  
"Who were they?" Jake asked.  
  
"Supposedly this Jareth guy was the girl's boyfriend or something. He was part of the murder from what the convict said but he's completely vanished so we haven't been able to question him for ourselves. It might have been jealousy issues that made her kill that girl. Anyway, there isn't any sort of record of there ever being a Jareth or an Almanac with the description people gave me. Neighbors didn't know them at all since they mostly kept to themselves. What they knew for sure was that the dead girl and her murderer were supposedly the best of friends."  
  
"How many times have we heard that one?" Jake asked sarcastically as he pulled the file towards him (without the photos). "What about his parents? Why was he with his sister in the first place?" Chris looked over the papers he was still holding and let out a short laugh.  
  
"This is like a regular soap opera! Get this: the dead girl was supposedly very disconnected from the world. According to her parents, she always went off to her room to read or dream about stuff. Her parents are divorced by the way."  
  
"Which one? The convict?" Jake asked as he stood to look over Chris' shoulder. Chris laughed and pointed to the sentence he was looking at.  
  
"Nope, the dreamer. She supposedly walked out of her house with her little brother one night after a major argument with her real mother and her father."  
  
"So she had a stepmother?"  
  
"Yup." Chris narrowed his eyes and flipped the page. "There aren't any records of the dead girl's killer and she only gave us her name. Have you read 'Dead Dreams'?" Jake blinked.  
  
"Yeah, I loved it." He said. "What does that have anything to do with this?" Chris smirked nastily at him.  
  
"It seems that the convict was the one who wrote that book." Jake paled instantly. "The other books she wrote were sometimes her's or her friend and her's work."  
  
"I want to see her." Jake said at last. Chris glanced at him for a long moment before he nodded curtly. He gathered all of the papers and photos and returned them to the file they had come from. Together they emerged into the corridors filled with hissing convicts but they ignored them. They went to the doors to the little courtyard that the convicts were allowed to go to so that they could indulge themselves in the anguish of being so close to freedom and yet so far away.  
  
Jake expected to find the convict gloating but he blinked several times in shock when Chris pointed her out to him.  
  
She was a beautiful, magical woman with lavender colored hair which only just brushed her chin. Her blue prison uniform dulled her appearance but there was still something otherworldly about her. She was sitting at a table all by herself with a notebook in front of her and her pen dancing over the paper. Her skin glowed in the light of the noon sky but she didn't seem worried about getting a sun burn. She glanced up, as if she knew that someone was watching her, and turned to look at Chris and Jake.  
  
Both men were momentarily stunned at the depth and electric blue that greeted them. The woman held their gazes for a long time but then she returned to whatever she had been doing. Jake felt his breath return and Chris slowly relaxed.  
  
"What's her name?" Jake asked. Chris shook his head to clear it and glanced into the folder.  
  
"Michu Phixie."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thank you to everyone who ever reviewed this story! You guys are the best reviewers! I'm afraid this fic has finally come to an end *bursts into hysterical crying* that's the end and I hope you're satisfied for now. The sequel, 'Labyrinth of the Heart' will have a VERY happy ending, I swear! We'll also be seeing more of Chris and Jake in the future so if you liked them, rejoice! I want to thank all of you again, even those of you who didn't review but read this and love it. ^.^ I was once one of you so don't be ashamed. Thank you everyone and watch out for the sequel! 


	26. Author's Note

Author's Note: Although the story is complete, I thought you guys might want to know this. This has been copy/pasted from my profile update for those of you who do not typically check my profile anymore for updates.

Yes, I am still alive, although no longer so in the fanfiction community (as fans of my hiatus work know). I have moved on to original fiction and, guess what? I've finished my first fantasy novel at last! For those of you interested in checking it out, please go to my homepage at to find out more about my novel, **Skull Juggler: Disenchanted** by **Natalia Locatelli** (that is me), the first book in my four book series. For future updates on how the publishing is going, go to the website.

To update you guys on the current happenings: I have finished the manuscript, as the word document is called, and in the next month or so I should have the book in my hands. As of today, I officially have a cover for the book and I'll be sending my manuscript off to be formatted and fitted for the rest of the book in the next week or so. I'm already starting to do some marketing on my own (for those of you who are curious, I am self-publishing for now) and then I'm going to put the book on Amazon (I will let you guys know when this is).

As I put in my profile, I'm going to launch my book on a specific day. It will be available on Amazon before my launch day, BUT if you guys decide you want to buy my book, I suggest you wait until the launch day (I will make sure to tell you when that will be) and you guys will get a ton of free stuff for helping me out! I'll put on my website what the goodies will be so you can decide if you want them or not. I'm extremely excited about launching my very first novel and I hope you, my loyal fans, will support me on my new adventure!

I hope this will be of interest to you guys :)

Amber Evans Potter a.k.a. Natalia Locatelli


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